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马来 (Mǎ lái) — Malay (relating to the Malay Peninsula, Archipelago, or people); (abbreviation) Malaysia

Definition

马来 (Mǎlái) is a proper-noun root meaning 'Malay' — it is usually not used alone but combined: 马来人 (Malay person), 马来语 (Malay language), 马来西亚 (Malaysia, a country in Southeast Asia).

noun
Malay (relating to the Malay Peninsula, Archipelago, or people)(abbreviation) Malaysia

Examples

  • 马来。
    Tā shì Mǎ lái rén.
    He is a Malay person.
  • 马来？
    Nǐ zài xué Mǎ lái yǔ ma?
    Are you learning the Malay language?
  • 马来。
    Mǎ lái De chuán tǒng yīn yuè hěn hǎo tīng.
    Traditional Malay music is very pleasant to listen to.

Origin

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.

马mǎ
来lái

The characters carry no meaning of their own here; 马来 transliterates a foreign name.

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.

Open 马 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 來; 来 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 來 shows a wheat plant: a central ear, upward leaves, and downward stem and roots. The simplified 来 is a later shorthand.

Open 来 →
Appears in
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