马倌 (mǎ guān) — horse groom, stable hand

Definition

Literary/literary-register term for a person who tends horses — a groom or stable hand. Most learners will only meet this word in novels or period writing, where it describes a worker who feeds, brushes, and cares for horses daily.

noun
horse groomstable hand
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 马倌。
    Zhè ge mǎ guān měi tiān dōu yào gěi mǎ shuā máo.
    This groom has to brush the horses every day.
  • 马倌。
    Lǎo mǎ guān yǎng le èr shí nián de mǎ.
    The old groom has been raising horses for twenty years.
  • 马倌。
    Xiǎo shuō lǐ de mǎ guān shì gè chén mò guǎ yán de rén.
    The groom in the novel is a quiet, taciturn person.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

马mǎhorse
倌guānkeeper

马 gives horse, and 倌 gives a keeper, naming a person who tends horses.

Characters in this word

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 →

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
亻Written in full as人rénperson
Sound part声符shēngfú
官
官guān倌guān
Same sound today

In 倌, the left 亻 marks a person, and the right 官 gives the sound.

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