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Mā, má, mǎ, mà are four different words. Which one means 'horse'?

Mǎ (马), the third tone, means horse.

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  1. mā (妈)
  2. mà (骂)
  3. mǎ (马) ✔

Why: Mā (first tone) is mother, má (second) is hemp, mǎ (third) is horse and mà (fourth) is to scold. Getting the tone wrong can turn mom into a horse!

Huh, didn't know that: Taiwan uses the traditional characters for these: 媽 mother, 馬 horse and 罵 scold.

The dad joke
I wanted to call my mom, but I used the third tone. Now the horse is on the phone.
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References

Answer: mǎ (马). Mā (first tone) is mother, má (second) is hemp, mǎ (third) is horse and mà (fourth) is to scold. Getting the tone wrong can turn mom into a horse!

  1. University of Illinois, Chilin Shih, Mandarin Tones clsresources.web.illinois.edu/mandarin-tones
    ma1 媽 mother ma2 麻 hemp ma3 馬 horse ma4 罵 to
    Checked 2026-10-12.
  2. Peace Corps China, Chinese Basic Lessons for Invitees (Mandarin) files.peacecorps.gov/multimedia/audio/languagelessons/thepeoplesrepublicofchina/CN_Mandarin_Language_Lessons.pdf
    ‘horse’
    Checked 2026-10-12.

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LanguagesBù (不, not) is normally fourth tone. What happens to it right before another fourth tone, as in bù + shì?LanguagesWhen two third tones come together, like nǐ + hǎo, how is the first one said?LanguagesHow many main tones does Mandarin Chinese have, not counting the light neutral tone?

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