Self-component, simplified from traditional
馬 in the 1956 reform. The full pictograph showed mane-back-body-legs in side view; the modern three strokes preserve only the silhouette — top horizontal-and-hook for mane and arching back, sweeping bottom horizontal for the four legs. Still legible as a galloping animal and serves as Kangxi radical #187 for the equine family (
驰,
骑,
驾,
驴).
