吗ma

吗

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Simplified · Today

繁体

Traditional Chinese

嗎 (ma), the traditional form of the question particle, combines the mouth radical with 馬 (horse) as its phonetic component — a remnant of its origin in classical Chinese 么, which once marked interrogatives. Though purely grammatical in function, the character preserves the visual sense of speech escaping the lips, as if the mouth itself were asking. The traditional 嗎 maintains a fuller connection to its historical ancestor than the streamlined simplified version.

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Shuowen

吗 is a modern interrogative particle derived from the earlier character 么, which originally depicted a tiny object (like a small seed) representing “small” or “what.” The shape of 么 consists of a small element (小) with a slash, symbolizing something minute. The addition of the mouth radical (口) in later usage turned the original meaning into a phonetic marker for the question particle.

Pinyin

ma· HSK 1

吗ma

Character evolution

Shuowen

Pinyin