馬

馬 (radical 187, 馬+0, 10 strokes, cangjie input 尸手尸火 (SQSF), four-corner 7132₇, composition ⿹⿺㇉⿻三丨灬)

1. Kangxi radical #187, ⾺.

• Index:Chinese radical/馬
• 傌(㐷), 馮(冯), 嗎(吗), 媽(妈), 榪(杩), 瑪(玛), 溤, 獁(犸), 碼(码), 禡(祃), 螞(蚂), 鎷(𨰾), 䣕, 遤, 㾺(𬏜), 罵/駡(骂), 闖(闯), 褭(𬡇)

• 马 (Simplified Chinese)

• KangXi: page 1433, character 1
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 44572
• Dae Jaweon: page 1956, character 34
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 7, page 4539, character 1
• Unihan data for U+99AC

Historical forms of the character 馬
Shang		Western Zhou	Spring and Autumn	Warring States			Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)			Liushutong (compiled in Ming)	Libian (compiled in Qing)
Bronze inscriptions	Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Bronze inscriptions	Bronze inscriptions	Chu Slip and silk script	Qin slip script	Shizhoupian script	Ancient script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts	Clerical script

Semi-cursive script	Cursive script

Pictogram (象形) – a horse with its head facing the left, showing a flowing mane in the wind. In the bronze inscriptions, the head was often simplified into an eye (目). The legs eventually evolved into four dots (灬, unrelated to 火).

Contrast with 鹿 (“deer”), which saw a very different development, and 𢊁 (as in 薦), which is a hybrid: it has the the legs of 馬 (灬) but the head of 鹿.

“Horse” – from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *k-m-raŋ ~ s-raŋ. The sense of “big” is derived from “horse”; compare the English uses of horse.

For the insect prefix sense, see 螞. It has converged with the sense of “big”.

The surname is popularly known to be prevalent among Hui Muslims, where it is likely derived from Arabic مُحَمَّد‎ (muḥammad, “Muhammad”).

馬

1. horse (Classifier: 匹; 隻／只)
2. horse-shaped
3. (chess) knight
4. (Chinese chess) knight; horse (on the black side)
5. Original form of 碼／码 (mǎ, “chip for counting”).
6. big (prefix for nouns)

   馬勺 / 马勺  ―  mǎsháo  ―  ladle (big spoon)

7. (Southwestern Mandarin, including Sichuan) to bully
8. (Sichuan) to keep a straight face
9. Prefix for names of insects, also written as 螞.
10. Short for 馬祖／马祖 (Mǎzǔ).
11. Short for 馬來西亞／马来西亚 (Mǎláixīyà).
12. A surname​.
13. (～村) Ma (a village in Dongsong, Luoning, Luoyang, Henan, China)

• (Chinese chess pieces) 帥/將, 仕/士, 相/象, 俥/車, 傌/馬, 炮/砲, 兵/卒

Others:

• → Proto-Tai: *maːᶜ (“horse”)
  • Lao: ມ້າ (mā, “horse”)
  • Lü: ᦙᦱᧉ (maa²)
  • Shan: မႃႉ (mâ̰a, “horse”)
  • Thai: ม้า (máa, “horse”)
  • Zhuang: max (“horse”)
  • Bouyei: duezmax (“horse”), max (“horse”)
• → Thai: เบ๊ (bée, “horse”) (via Teochew)

• “Entry #6822”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (in Chinese and Min Nan), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2011.

Stroke order (Japan)

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. horse

• Go-on: め (me)
• Kan-on: ば (ba, Jōyō)
• Kan’yō-on: ま (ma)
• Kun: うま (uma, 馬, Jōyō); ま (ma, 馬, Jōyō, uncommon)

馬 (uma, muma): a pair of horses.

From Old Japanese.[1] Recorded in the Nihon Shoki as having been brought over from the Korean peninsula kingdom of Baekje, with the earlier reading of ma. The initial m sound was apparently emphasized,[1][2] possibly similar to *mma, becoming then uma or muma, via processes also seen in the word 梅 (ume, mume, “plum”).

The ma sound denoting "horse" is common to a number of languages of central Asia, where horses were first domesticated, suggesting a possible cognate root. Compare Manchu ᠮᠣᡵᡳᠨ (morin, “horse”), Mongolian морь (morʹ, “horse”), Korean 말 (mal, “horse”), Mandarin 馬 (mǎ, “horse”), and Proto-Indo-European *márkos (“horse”) and descendants such as Irish marc (“horse”, archaic) or English mare (“female horse”). More at *márkos.

• Kun’yomi
  • (Tokyo) うま​ [ùmáꜜ] (Odaka – [2])[3][2]
  • IPA^(key): [ɯ̟ᵝma̠]

馬 (counter 匹, hiragana うま, rōmaji uma)

1. a horse
2. (shogi) a promoted bishop
3. a sawhorse: a four-leg stand made of wood or iron for supporting other materials

Shift from uma form, becoming more common starting from the Heian Period. This change later reverted, and muma is now considered obsolete.

• Kun’yomi
  • IPA^(key): [mɯ̟ᵝma̠]

馬 (hiragana むま, rōmaji muma)

1. (obsolete) a horse
   • c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 20, poem 4372)

     阿志加良能 美佐可多麻波理 可閇理美須 阿例波久江由久 阿良志乎母 多志夜波婆可流 不破乃世伎 久江弖和波由久 牟麻能都米 都久志能佐伎尓 知麻利為弖 阿例波伊波々牟 母呂々々波 佐祁久等麻乎須 可閇利久麻弖尓

   • c. 935 Tosa Nikki

     ふぢはらのときざね、ふなぢなれど、むまのはなむけす。

   • c. 935 Tosa Nikki

     けふはあをむまをおもへど、かひなし。

馬 (eumhun 말 마 (mal ma))
馬 (eumhun 성 마 (seong ma))

1. horse (in compounds)

• 마차 (馬車, macha, “horse-drawn carriage”)
• 경마 (競馬, gyeongma, “horserace”)

• 말 (mal)

馬: Hán Việt readings: mã[1][2][3]
馬: Nôm readings: mở[1][2][3], mựa[1][2][4], mã[1][2], mả[1][2], mỡ[1], ngựa[2], mứa[4]

1. Hán tự form of mã (“horse”).

• 兵馬 (binh mã)

馬 (ngựa)

1. horse

馬 (mứa)

1. excess

馬 (mựa)

1. (dialectal) don't

馬 (mả)

1. tomb; grave
   • 1916: Nguyễn Đình Chiểu, Lục Vân Tiên, lines 921–922

     小(tiểu)童(đồng)庄(chẳng)及(kịp)哙(hỏi)㗍(han)/𦣰(nằm)陵(lăn)边(bên)馬(mả)哭(khóc)嘆(than)徘(bồi)徊(hồi)

     Before the page has a chance to pay a visit, / He throws himself down upon the grave, crying, lamenting, fretting.

馬 (mở)

1. to open