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马蹄 (mǎ tí) — horse's hoof; horseshoe; (dialect) water chestnut

Definition

Literally 'horse's hoof' (the animal's foot) and, by extension, the horseshoe itself. In Cantonese and southern Chinese cooking, 马蹄 is also a common name for the water chestnut.

noun
horse's hoofhorseshoe(dialect) water chestnut
Measure word · 只

Examples

  • ，马蹄，。
    Sài mǎ shí, mǎ de mǎ tí shòu le shāng, bù néng jì xù bǐ sài.
    During the horse race, the horse's hoof was injured and couldn't continue.
  • 马蹄。
    Tiě jiàng gěi zhè pǐ mǎ dǎ le yí fù xīn mǎ tí.
    The blacksmith made a new set of horseshoes for this horse.
  • 马蹄，。
    Guǎng dōng rén cháng yòng mǎ tí bāo tāng, wèi dào qīng tián.
    Cantonese people often use water chestnuts to make soup; the taste is refreshingly sweet.

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
蹄tíhoof

马 names the animal and 蹄 names the hoof, together meaning horse's hoof.

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
足足zúfoot
Sound part声符shēngfú
帝
帝dì蹄tí
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

蹄 uses 足 (foot) to point to feet and 帝 to give its sound.

Open 蹄 →
Appears in
Animals & MammalsBody PartsVegetables

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