馬
简 马 · 繁 馬Meanings
- horse Mandarin classifier: 匹
- horse or cavalry piece in Chinese chess
- knight in Western chess
- a surname
- KangXi radicial 187
- a subordinate
- a prostitute
- a follower in a triad gang
- a motor bike
About these definitions
Source definition segments, in their original order. Characters a definition cites are shown without their Mandarin pinyin; classifier lists that CC-Canto copied from CC-CEDICT are marked Mandarin. The community dictionary is not independently verified by zimai.
Reading & tones
Schematic citation-tone diagrams from the source numbers. These are not recordings or predictions of connected speech.
Same syllable, six tones
Characters whose customary Unihan reading (kCantonese) is this syllable in each tone, chosen as in the tone atlas (2013 standard level, then the number of CC-CEDICT words they form), with CC-Canto 2017's meaning for that reading; a dash means no catalogue character has that reading. Checked syllables (-p, -t, -k) normally carry tones 1, 3 and 6. Character readings, not word readings; no frequency implied.
Written characters
Both source spellings are represented. Written membership is not an etymological or semantic claim.
Mandarin comparison · separate source entries
CC-CEDICT, the Mandarin–English dictionary, lists the same written form:
- 馬 Mǎ CC-CEDICT · Mandarinsurname Ma; abbr. for Malaysia 馬來西亞 Mǎ lái xī yà
- 馬 mǎ CC-CEDICT · Mandarinhorse; Classifier: 匹 pǐ; horse or cavalry piece in Chinese chess; knight in Western chess
A separate source entry, shown for comparison. The same characters can carry different senses in Mandarin and in Cantonese; zimai does not align these senses.
CC-Canto includes this pinyin reference: ma3. It does not establish a Mandarin word with the same meaning.
Look up this spelling in the Mandarin dictionary ↗Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 20 senses · 1 Cantonese reading
Rime Cantonese 粵拼
maa5
Cantonese word readings for 馬. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.
CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack
Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section
Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.
character · Etymology 1
- horse (Classifier: 匹 m c; 隻／只 m c h mn; 條／条 h)
- Horse (Chinese zodiac sign)
- (xiangqi, Xiangqi) knight; horse: 🩪 (sometimes only on the black side)
- (chess) knight
- (Cantonese) horse race (Classifier: 場／场 c)
- original form of 碼／码 (mǎ, “chip for counting”)
- big (prefix for nouns)
- (Southwestern Mandarin, including Sichuanese) to bully
- (Sichuanese) to keep a straight face
- (Cantonese, slang) subordinate; underling
- Prefix for names of insects, also written as 螞.
- a surname
- (～日) (telegraphy) the twenty-first day of a month
character · Etymology 2
- Used in place names.
- (abbreviation, alt-of) short for 馬祖／马祖 (Mǎzǔ, “Matsu”)
character · Etymology 3
- Used in transcription.
- (abbreviation, alt-of) short for 馬來西亞／马来西亚 (Mǎláixīyà, “Malaysia”)
- (sports) short for 馬拉松／马拉松 (mǎlāsōng, “marathon”)
- (Mainland China) short for 馬克思／马克思 (Mǎkèsī, “Marx”)
- (abbreviation, alt-of) short for 馬列主義／马列主义 (Mǎ-Liè zhǔyì, “Marxism-Leninism”)
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
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