马

Etymology & Components

The Chinese character 马 (mǎ) for "horse" is a pictograph that depicts a horse's head and mane. The earliest known form of the character appears on oracle bones from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600-1046 BCE). In this early form, the character is clearly recognizable as a horse's head, with the mane represented by a series of strokes.Over time, the character 马 has evolved in form, but it has retained its basic pictographic nature. The modern form of the character is still clearly recognizable as a horse's head, although the details of the mane have been simplified.The character 马 is also used in a number of other Chinese characters, such as 骑 (qí, "to ride"), 驭 (yù, "to drive"), and 匹 (pǐ, "a horse"). These characters all share the semantic component of "horse," and they all use the character 马 as their phonetic component.The character 马 is a common character in Chinese, and it is used in a wide variety of contexts. It is a basic vocabulary word that is essential for HSK learners to know.