TraceHanzi

蚂 meaning and stroke order

mǎ

Ant; leech

9 strokesRadical 虫Traditional 螞
Strokes9
Pinyinmǎ
ToneTone 3
Frequency#3,038
Printable worksheet

How to write 蚂, stroke by stroke

9 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9

Meaning of 蚂

Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.

māfirst tone (high and level)
  1. used in 螞螂|蚂螂[ma1 lang2]
mǎthird tone (dipping)
  1. used in 螞蟥|蚂蟥[ma3 huang2]
  2. used in 螞蟻|蚂蚁[ma3 yi3]
màfourth tone (falling)
  1. used in 螞蚱|蚂蚱[ma4 zha5]

How 蚂 is built

Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Insect.

chónginsect+mǎhorse

虫 gives the meaning and 马 hints at the sound.

Radical: 虫 (insect), shared by 197 characters on this site.

How to remember 蚂

蚂 is built from 虫 (chóng, insect) on the left for meaning and 马 (mǎ, horse) on the right for sound. Picture a tiny insect that sounds like a horse: the ant, 蚂蚁 (mǎyǐ).

蚂 almost never appears alone. It lives inside small creature words like 蚂蚁 (mǎyǐ, ant), 蚂蟥 (mǎhuáng, leech) and 蚂蚱 (màzha, grasshopper). Example: 地上有很多蚂蚁。(Dì shang yǒu hěn duō mǎyǐ.) There are many ants on the ground.

Common mistake: Learners often write 马 or 吗 (ma) instead of 蚂 because they sound alike, so remember the 虫 on the left for any bug word. Also note the tone changes by word: mǎ in 蚂蚁, but mà in 蚂蚱.

Common words with 蚂

Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.

WordPinyinMeaningLevel
蚂蚁mǎyǐant
蚂蚱màzha(dialect) locust; grasshopper

蚂 in example sentences

Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.

看kàn看kàn这zhè些xiē蚂mǎ蚁yǐ。
Look at all those ants.
有yǒu只zhǐ蚂mǎ蚁yǐ咬yǎo我wǒ。
An ant bit me.
蚂mǎ蚁yǐ出chū现xiàn了le。
Ants appeared.
在zài那nà滩tān冰bīng淇qí淋lín的de周zhōu围wéi，有yǒu一yī群qún蚂mǎ蚁yǐ在zài爬pá来lái爬pá去qù。
The area around the melting ice cream was crawling with ants.
有yǒu一yī排pái蚂mǎ蚁yǐ在zài厨chú房fáng里lǐ进jìn进jìn出chū出chū。
There's a row of ants coming in and out of the kitchen.

Questions about 蚂

How many strokes are in 蚂?

蚂 is written with 9 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.

What does 蚂 mean?

蚂 (mǎ) means ant; leech. A common word with it is 蚂蚁 (mǎyǐ), meaning "ant".

How do you pronounce 蚂?

蚂 is pronounced mǎ, in the third tone (dipping).

What is the radical of 蚂?

The radical of 蚂 is 虫, which carries the idea of "insect". Dictionaries list 蚂 under this radical.

What is the traditional form of 蚂?

The traditional form of 蚂 is 螞. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 蚂 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.

Why does 蚂 have three different pronunciations?

The tone depends on the word it appears in. It is mǎ in 蚂蚁 and 蚂蟥, mà in 蚂蚱, and mā in 蚂螂 (mālang), a word for dragonfly.

Can I use 蚂 by itself to mean ant?

No. On its own 蚂 is not a word. To say ant you need the full word 蚂蚁 (mǎyǐ).