馬子

See also: 马子

Chinese

		horse; surname	child; son; (noun suffix) child; son; (noun suffix); small thing; seed; egg; 1st earthly branch; 11 p.m.–1 a.m., midnight
trad. (馬子)		馬	子
simp. (马子)		马	子

Etymology 1

During the Han Dynasty, the emperor's commode was called 虎子 (hǔzǐ). However, the grandfather of Emperor Gaozu of Tang was called 李虎 (Lǐ Hǔ). Because it was forbidden for common items to contain the given names of members of the imperial family (see Naming taboo), 虎子 was changed to 馬子／马子 (mǎzi), which morphed later into 馬桶／马桶 (mǎtǒng).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): mǎzi

  (Zhuyin): ㄇㄚˇ ˙ㄗ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): maa⁵ zi²
• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): bé-chí

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: mǎzi
    • Zhuyin: ㄇㄚˇ ˙ㄗ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: mǎzi̊h
    • Wade–Giles: ma³-tzŭ⁵
    • Yale: mǎ-dz
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: maa.tzy
    • Palladius: мацзы (maczy)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /mä²¹⁴ d͡z̥z̩⁴/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: maa⁵ zi²
    • Yale: máh jí
    • Cantonese Pinyin: maa⁵ dzi²
    • Guangdong Romanization: ma⁵ ji²
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /maː¹³ t͡siː³⁵/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bé-chí
    • Tâi-lô: bé-tsí
    • Phofsit Daibuun: befcie
    • IPA (Xiamen): /be⁵³⁻⁴⁴ t͡si⁵³/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /be⁵⁵⁴⁻²⁴ t͡si⁵⁵⁴/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /be⁵³⁻⁴⁴ t͡si⁵³/
    • IPA (Taipei): /be⁵³⁻⁴⁴ t͡si⁵³/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /be⁴¹⁻⁴⁴ t͡si⁴¹/

Noun

馬子

1. nightstool; closestool; commode; toilet; chamber pot
2. (gambling) chip
3. (chiefly Taiwan, colloquial, humorous or derogatory) girlfriend

Synonyms

• (chamber pot; toilet): 馬桶／马桶 (mǎtǒng)
• (chip): 籌碼／筹码 (chóumǎ)
• (girlfriend):

Dialectal synonyms of 女朋友 (“girlfriend”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		女朋友, 女友
Mandarin	Beijing	女朋友
	Taiwan	女朋友, 女友, 馬子 humorous or derogatory
	Chengdu	女娃子, 女娃娃, 女娃兒, 盤子
	Guilin	𧊅
	Xuzhou	女朋友
	Nanjing	女朋友, 攀西
	Singapore	女朋友
Cantonese	Guangzhou	女朋友, 女
	Hong Kong	女朋友, 女友, 女, 女女, 菜 derogatory
	Taishan	女朋友, 女
	Dongguan	皮油
	Singapore (Guangfu)	女朋友
Hakka	Meixian	女朋友
	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	細妹朋友, 女朋友
	Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu)	細妹朋友, 女朋友
	Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu)	細妹朋友, 女朋友
	Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping)	細妹朋友, 女朋友
	Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an)	妹子朋友, 女朋友
Eastern Min	Fuzhou	女朋友
Southern Min	Xiamen	女朋友
	Shishi	女朋友
	Taipei	姼仔 GT
	Penang (Hokkien)	查某朋友
	Singapore (Hokkien)	查某朋友
	Manila (Hokkien)	女朋友, 查某朋友
	Chaozhou	女朋友
	Haifeng	女朋友
	Singapore (Teochew)	查某朋友
	Leizhou	女朋友
	Singapore (Hainanese)	女朋友
Wu	Shanghai	女朋友
	Suzhou	女朋友
	Hangzhou	女朋友
	Ningbo	女朋友
	Zhoushan	女朋友
Xiang	Changsha	妹子
Note	GT - General Taiwanese (no specific region identified)

Derived terms

• 泡馬子／泡马子 (pào mǎzi)

 

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• Hakka (Sixian, PFS): mâ-chṳ́

---

• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: mâ-chṳ́
    • Hakka Romanization System: ma´ zii`
    • Hagfa Pinyim: ma¹ zi³
    • Sinological IPA: /ma²⁴ t͡sɨ³¹/

Noun

馬子

1. (Taiwanese Hakka) foal

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 小馬 (“foal”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Classical Chinese		駒, 馬駒
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		小馬
Mandarin	Beijing	馬駒兒, 馬駒子
	Harbin	馬駒子
	Yantai (Muping)	馬駒兒, 馬駒子
	Jinan	馬駒兒, 馬駒子
	Luoyang	馬駒子
	Wanrong	馬駒子
	Xi'an	馬駒兒, 馬駒子
	Yinchuan	馬駒子, 馬駒駒
	Lanzhou	馬駒子
	Xining	尕馬兒, 馬駒子兒, 馬駒子
	Wuhan	小馬
	Chengdu	小馬兒
	Guiyang	小馬崽, 小馬兒
	Liuzhou	馬崽
	Yangzhou	小馬
	Hefei	小馬
Cantonese	Guangzhou	馬仔
	Hong Kong	馬仔
	Dongguan	馬仔
	Yangjiang	馬仔
Gan	Nanchang	馬崽子
	Lichuan	馬崽兒
Hakka	Meixian	細馬仔
	Yudu	細馬
	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	馬子
	Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian)	馬子
	Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu)	馬子
	Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu)	馬子
	Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping)	馬子
	Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an)	馬么
Jin	Taiyuan	馬駒, 馬駒子
Northern Min	Jian'ou	馬仔
Eastern Min	Fuzhou	馬囝
Southern Min	Xiamen	馬仔囝, 馬仔
	Quanzhou	馬仔
	Zhangzhou	馬仔
	Penang (Hokkien)	馬囝
	Chaozhou	馬囝
	Leizhou	馬囝
Southern Pinghua	Nanning (Tingzi)	馬崽
Wu	Suzhou	小馬
	Wenzhou	馬兒
Xiang	Changsha	馬崽子
	Shuangfeng	馬崽基

Japanese

Kanji in this term
馬	子
ま Grade: 2	こ > ご Grade: 1
jūbakoyomi

Noun

馬(ま)子(ご) • (mago) 

1. packhorse driver

   馬子(まご)にも衣装(いしょう)

   mago ni mo ishō

   (proverb) the clothes make the man

   山(やま)んばばあと馬子(まご)どん

   Yamanbabā to mago don

   the Mountain-Witch and the Packhorse Driver, an Okinawan folktale

Proper noun

Kanji in this term
馬	子
うま Grade: 2	こ Grade: 1
kun’yomi

馬(うま)子(こ) • (Umako) 

1. a male given name
   • 蘇我馬子 (Soga-no Umako) - famous leader of the Soga clan (died 626).

References

• Jim Breen's 'EDICT'
• The new Nelson Japanese-English character dictionary
• NTC's New Japanese-English Dictionary
• David Galef's book on proverbs "Even Monkeys Fall From Trees"
• Daniel Crump Buchanan's book "Japanese Proverbs and Sayings"