玛

瑪
mǎ
noun #4,611

Meanings

  1. 1 agate (as in 玛瑙)
  2. 2 used in transliterations (Ma)

Examples

HSK 4
Mǎlì shì gè hǎo míngzi.
Mary is a nice name.
HSK 7-9
Zhè tiáo xiàngliàn shì mǎnǎo zuò de.
This necklace is made of agate.

Tips

usage
玛 appears most often in transliterated names (玛丽 Mary, 玛雅 Maya) and in the word 玛瑙 (agate).

Components

radical
王 wáng
jade (radical form)
Left side is the jade radical (the side-form of 玉, the king-shape with the dot omitted). It marks 玛 as a stone or precious-mineral character, joining 玛瑙 (agate), 珊 (coral), 珠 (pearl), 琥 (amber). The dot of 玉 is dropped only when used as a left-side radical.
phonetic
马 mǎ
horse
Right-side 马 supplies the sound mǎ, exactly matching the parent's reading. The horse meaning plays no role here - pure sound-borrowing. Same phonetic pattern in 妈 (mom), 吗 (question particle), 码 (code), 蚂 (ant), all reading mǎ/má.

Stroke Order

玛 mǎ