馬路

See also: 马路

Chinese

		horse; surname	road; path; way
trad. (馬路)		馬	路
simp. (马路)		马	路

Etymology

Attested in Zuo Zhuan [4th century BC], meaning “wide road used for horses”. How this came to be used as a general term for “paved road; street” is debated. Common theories include:

A natural semantic evolution (± modern repurposing) of the literary Chinese term.
A phono-semantic matching of English macadam (the modern method of road construction) + 路 (“road”), originally used in Shanghainese.

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): mǎlù

(Zhuyin): ㄇㄚˇ ㄌㄨˋ
Cantonese (Jyutping): maa⁵ lou⁶
Min Dong (BUC): mā-diô
Min Nan (POJ): bé-lō͘ / bée-lō͘
Wu (Wiktionary): mo lu (T3)

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)
  - Pinyin: mǎlù
  - Zhuyin: ㄇㄚˇ ㄌㄨˋ
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: maaluh
  - IPA ^(key): /mä²¹⁴⁻²¹¹ lu⁵¹/
  - Homophones:
    [Show/Hide]
    ^edit
    ^edit
    馬路／马路
    馬陸／马陆
    馬鹿／马鹿
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
  - Jyutping: maa⁵ lou⁶
  - Yale: máh louh
  - Cantonese Pinyin: maa⁵ lou⁶
  - Guangdong Romanization: ma⁵ lou⁶
  - IPA ^(key): /mäː¹³ lou̯²²/
Min Dong
- (Fuzhou)
  - Bàng-uâ-cê: mā-diô
  - IPA ^(key): /ma³³⁻⁵⁵ ^(t-)luɔ²⁴²/
Min Nan
- (Hokkien: Quanzhou, mainstream Taiwanese, Xiamen)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bé-lō͘
  - Tâi-lô: bé-lōo
  - Phofsit Daibuun: beflo
  - IPA (Quanzhou): /be⁵⁵⁴⁻²⁴ lɔ⁴¹/
  - IPA (Xiamen): /be⁵³⁻⁴⁴ lɔ²²/
  - IPA (Kaohsiung): /be⁴¹⁻⁴⁴ lɔ³³/
  - IPA (Taipei): /be⁵³⁻⁴⁴ lɔ³³/
- (Hokkien: Zhangzhou)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bée-lō͘
  - Tâi-lô: bée-lōo
  - IPA (Zhangzhou): /bɛ⁵³⁻⁴⁴ lɔ²²/
Wu
- (Shanghainese)
  - Wiktionary: mo lu (T3)
  - IPA ^(key): /mo²² lv̩ʷ⁴⁴/

Middle Chinese: /mˠa^X luo^H/▼

Rime
Character	馬	路
Reading #	1/1	1/1
Initial (聲)	明 (4)	來 (37)
Final (韻)	麻 (98)	模 (23)
Tone (調)	Rising (X)	Departing (H)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open
Division (等)	II	I
Fanqie	莫下切	洛故切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/mˠa^X/	/luo^H/
Pan Wuyun	/mᵚa^X/	/luo^H/
Shao Rongfen	/ma^X/	/lo^H/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/maɨ^X/	/lɔ^H/
Li Rong	/ma^X/	/lo^H/
Wang Li	/ma^X/	/lu^H/
Bernard Karlgren	/ma^X/	/luo^H/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	mǎ	lù

Old Chinese▼
(Baxter–Sagart): /*mˤraʔ Cə.rˤak-s/

(Zhengzhang): /*mraːʔ ɡ·raːɡs/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	馬	路
Reading #	1/1	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	mǎ	lù
Middle Chinese	‹ mæ^X ›	‹ lu^H ›
Old Chinese	/*mˁraʔ/	/*Cə.rˁak-s/
English	horse	road
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. [t] as coda may in fact be -t or -p; Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	馬	路
Reading #	1/1	1/1
No.	8715	3856
Phonetic component	馬	各
Rime group	魚	暮
Rime subdivision	0	0
Corresponding MC rime	馬	路
Old Chinese	/*mraːʔ/	/*ɡ·raːɡs/

Noun

馬路

(literary, archaic) wide road used for horses and horse-drawn carriages
(modern usage) wide and flat road for the passage of vehicles; paved road; (by extension) road; street (Classifier: 條／条 m)
過馬路 / 过马路 ― guò mǎlù ― to cross the road

馬路中央 / 马路中央 ― mǎlù zhōngyāng ― the middle of the road

Derived terms

柏油馬路／柏油马路
走馬路仔／走马路仔
軋馬路／轧马路 (yà mǎlù)
過馬路／过马路 (guò mǎlù)

馬路崖子／马路崖子
馬路新聞／马路新闻
馬路消息／马路消息
馬路牙子／马路牙子 (mǎlù yázi)