verb HSK 5 #3,036

Meanings

  1. 1 to scold; to curse at
  2. 2 to rebuke; to verbally abuse

Examples

Māma mà le tā yí dùn.
Mom gave him a good scolding.
Lǎoshī bù yīnggāi mà xuéshēng.
Teachers shouldn't scold students.
Tā bèi lǎobǎn mà le.
He was scolded by the boss.
Búyào mà rén, hǎohǎo shuōhuà.
Don't curse at people — speak nicely.

Tips

usage
covers a range from mild scolding to harsh cursing. = to curse/swear at someone. = to be scolded. 挨骂 (ái mà) = to get scolded (often used by children about parents/teachers).
usage
骂街 (mà jiē) = to curse in the street (make a public scene). (duì mà) = to trade insults. (chòu mà) = to give a severe dressing-down.

Components

radical
horse (radical, phonetic)
Bottom horse — the indexing radical, but its job here is purely phonetic: mǎ drifts in tone to mà. The 1956 reform attached the radical position to the phonetic so could be looked up by ; the doubled mouths above carry all the meaning. No horse in the cursing.
semantic
kǒu
mouth (semantic, left of pair)
Top-left mouth — half of a doubled-mouth depicting loud agitated speech. Two mouths spilling words at once is the visual definition of : shouting, cursing, hurling abuse. Same doubling logic as to weep (paired mouths over ). The pair sits over below.
semantic
kǒu
mouth (semantic, right of pair)
Top-right mouth — second of the paired mouths. The repetition emphasizes vehemence: not one mouth, but two pouring forth at once. Together the doubled-mouth carries the entire semantic load of ; the bottom only supplies sound.

Stroke Order