馬子

See also: 马子

Chinese

		horse; surname	child; son; (noun suffix) child; son; (noun suffix); small thing; seed; egg; 1st earthly branch; 11 pm-1 am; midnight
trad. (馬子)		馬	子
simp. (马子)		马	子

Etymology

During the Han Dynasty, the emperor's commode was called 虎子 (hǔzǐ). However, the grandfather of Emperor Gaozu of Tang was called 李虎 (Lǐ Hǔ). Because it was forbidden for common items to contain the given names of members of the imperial family (see Naming taboo), 虎子 was changed to 馬子／马子 (mǎzi), which morphed later into 馬桶／马桶 (mǎtǒng).

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): mǎzi

(Zhuyin): ㄇㄚˇ ˙ㄗ
Cantonese (Jyutping): maa⁵ zi²
Min Nan (POJ): bé-chí

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Pinyin: mǎzi
  - Zhuyin: ㄇㄚˇ ˙ㄗ
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: maa.tzy
  - IPA ^(key): /mä²¹⁴ d͡z̥z̩⁴/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
  - Jyutping: maa⁵ zi²
  - Yale: máh jí
  - Cantonese Pinyin: maa⁵ dzi²
  - Guangdong Romanization: ma⁵ ji²
  - IPA ^(key): /mäː¹³ t͡siː³⁵/
Min Nan
- (Hokkien)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bé-chí
  - Tâi-lô: bé-tsí
  - Phofsit Daibuun: befcie
  - IPA (Xiamen): /be⁵³⁻⁴⁴ t͡ɕi⁵³/
  - IPA (Quanzhou): /be⁵⁵⁴⁻²⁴ t͡ɕi⁵⁵⁴/
  - IPA (Zhangzhou): /be⁵³⁻⁴⁴ t͡ɕi⁵³/
  - IPA (Taipei): /be⁵³⁻⁴⁴ t͡ɕi⁵³/
  - IPA (Kaohsiung): /be⁴¹⁻⁴⁴ t͡ɕi⁴¹/

Noun

馬子

nightstool; closestool; commode; toilet; chamber pot
(gambling) chip
(chiefly Taiwan) girlfriend

Synonyms

(chamber pot; toilet): 馬桶／马桶 (mǎtǒng)
(chip): 籌碼／筹码 (chóumǎ)
(girlfriend): 女朋友 (nǚpéngyou), 女友 (nǚyǒu); (slang) 女盆友 (nǚpényǒu)

Japanese

Kanji in this term
馬	子
ま Grade: 2	こ > ご Grade: 1
jūbakoyomi

Noun

馬子 (hiragana まご, rōmaji mago)

packhorse driver
馬 (ま)子 (ご)にも衣 (い)装 (しょう)
mago ni mo ishō
(proverb) the clothes make the man

山 (やま)んばばあと馬 (ま)子 (ご)どん
Yamanbabā to mago don
the Mountain-Witch and the Packhorse Driver, an Okinawan folktale

Proper noun

Kanji in this term
馬	子
うま Grade: 2	こ Grade: 1
kun’yomi

馬子 (hiragana うまこ, rōmaji Umako)

A male given name
- 蘇我馬子 (Soga-no Umako) - famous leader of the Soga clan (died 626).

References

Jim Breen's 'EDICT'
The new Nelson Japanese-English character dictionary
NTC's New Japanese-English Dictionary
David Galef's book on proverbs "Even Monkeys Fall From Trees"
Daniel Crump Buchanan's book "Japanese Proverbs and Sayings"

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.