Meaning of 买卖
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- to buy and sell
- purchase and sale; transaction
- shop; store
How to use 买卖
As a noun, 买卖 (mǎimai, second syllable neutral tone) means business, a deal, or a small shop, and it is common in casual speech. It often pairs with 做 (zuò): 他在城里做买卖。(Tā zài chéng lǐ zuò mǎimai.) He does business in town.
买 (mǎi, buy) and 卖 (mài, sell) look almost the same, and 卖 just adds 十 on top. Put buying and selling together and you get the whole business of trade.
Common mistake: Learners often mix up 买 (mǎi, third tone, buy) and 卖 (mài, fourth tone, sell), which changes the meaning completely. Remember that 卖 has the extra 十 on top, and say the tones clearly.
买卖 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
买 mǎi · to buy · 6 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
卖 mài · to sell · 8 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
Related words
Words that share a character with 买卖.
| 外卖 | wàimài | (of a restaurant) to provide a takeout or home delivery meal; takeout (business) |
| 购买 | gòumǎi | to purchase; to buy |
| 出卖 | chūmài | to offer for sale; to sell; to sell out; to betray |
| 收买 | shōumǎi | to purchase; to buy; to bribe; to buy off |
| 拍卖 | pāimài | to auction; auction sale |
| 买不起 | mǎi bu qǐ | cannot afford; can't afford buying |
| 贩卖 | fànmài | to sell; to peddle |
| 卖弄 | màinong | to show off; to make a display of |
| 倒卖 | dǎomài | to resell at a profit; to speculate |
| 专卖店 | zhuānmàidiàn | specialty store |
| 卖掉 | màidiào | to sell off |
| 买下 | mǎixià | to purchase (sth expensive, e.g. a house); to acquire (a company, a copyright etc) |
Questions about 买卖
What does 买卖 mean?
买卖 (mǎimai) means "to buy and sell" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 买卖?
买卖 is made of 2 characters: 买 (6 strokes), 卖 (8 strokes). That is 14 strokes in total.
Is 买卖 an HSK word?
Yes. 买卖 is on the HSK 5 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How is 买卖 written in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, 买卖 is written 買賣.
What is the difference between mǎimai and mǎimài?
With a neutral tone on the second syllable, 买卖 (mǎimai) is a noun meaning business, a deal, or a shop. With full tones, 买卖 (mǎimài) is the verb-like sense of buying and selling, as in trading goods.
Is 买卖 the same as 生意 (shēngyi)?
They overlap a lot, and both work with 做 to mean doing business. 买卖 sounds more colloquial and often suggests small-scale trade, while 生意 is more neutral and also covers larger businesses.