马扎 (mǎ zā) — folding stool (with a fabric seat)

Definition

noun

folding stool (with a fabric seat)

Measure word · 个

马扎。
Tā mǎi le yí gè xīn de mǎ zā.
He bought a new folding stool.
马扎。
Tā bǎ mǎ zā fàng zài yuàn zi lǐ shài tài yáng.
She put the folding stool in the yard to get sun.
马扎。
Yé ye xǐ huan zuò zài mǎ zā shàng kàn bào zhǐ.
Grandpa likes to sit on a folding stool to read the newspaper.

Single-morpheme word

构词法gòucífǎ

音译yīnyìTransliteration

The characters spell the sound of a foreign word; their individual meanings play no part.

The characters 马 and 扎 carry no independent meaning here; the word spells a loan sound for a folding stool.

Sound-only characters

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 馬; 马 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 馬 shows a horse with its head facing left, a flowing mane, and two legs standing vertically.

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

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

乙

乙yǐ扎zhā

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

扎 is built from 手 (hand) and 乙, which gives the sound.