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蚂蚱 (mà zhà) — grasshopper, locust (colloquial, especially in northern China)

Definition

noun
grasshopperlocust (colloquial, especially in northern China)
Measure word · 只

Examples

  • 蚂蚱。
    Wǒ zài cǎo lǐ kàn dào yì zhī mà zhà.
    I saw a grasshopper in the grass.
  • 蚂蚱。
    Xiǎo hái zi xǐ huan zhuā mà zhà wán.
    Kids like to catch grasshoppers and play with them.
  • 蚂蚱。
    Yóu zhá mà zhà chī qǐ lái hěn xiāng.
    Fried grasshoppers taste very good.

Origin

Single-morpheme word
构词法gòucífǎ
联绵liánmiánBound pair

Two characters that only ever appear together, spelling one ancient two-syllable word.

蚂mǎ
蚱zhà

蚂 and 蚱 carry no separate meaning here; together they name a grasshopper.

Sound-only characters

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 螞; 蚂 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
虫虫chónginsect
Sound part声符shēngfú
馬
馬mǎ螞
Same sound today

The traditional form 螞 pairs 虫 (insect) with 馬 as its sound part; the simplified 蚂 is a later shorthand.

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Appears in
Insects

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