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马 — horse

horse; horse or cavalry piece in Chinese chess

Pinyin
mǎ · Mǎ
Strokes
3
HSK level
HSK 3
Handwriting
required

This character has more than one reading — mǎ, Mǎ — and the pronunciation depends on the word it appears in. The list below gives the syllabus reading for each word.

How to write 马: 3 strokes

Each cell adds one stroke to the previous ones, with the new stroke in red. Stroke order is not decoration: it sets the proportions of the character and makes handwriting legible to a reader. This character is on the HSK handwriting list, so the exam expects you to write it, not only recognise it.

马 — 3 strokes, in writing order from left to right.

Build a printable practice sheet with 马

Words with 马 in the HSK syllabus: 12

Every word in the official 2026 syllabus that contains this character, with the level it is introduced at. Learning a character pays off through these: each one combines with the characters you already know.

  1. 马mǎhorse; horse or cavalry piece in Chinese chessHSK 3
  2. 马路mǎlùstreet; roadHSK 3
  3. 马上mǎshàngat once; right away; immediately; on horsebackHSK 3
  4. 马虎mǎhucareless; sloppy; negligent; skimpyHSK 6
  5. 斑马线bānmǎxiàncrosswalk; zebra crossingHSK 7–9
  6. 汗马功劳hànmǎ-gōngláowar exploits; heroic contributionHSK 7–9
  7. 黑马hēimǎdark horse; fig. unexpected winnerHSK 7–9
  8. 骏马jùnmǎfine horse; steedHSK 7–9
  9. 马后炮mǎhòupàomoving the cannon after moving the horse awayHSK 7–9
  10. 马力mǎlìhorsepowerHSK 7–9
  11. 马桶mǎtǒngchamber pot; wooden pan used as toilet; toilet bowlHSK 7–9
  12. 千军万马qiānjūn-wànmǎmagnificent army with thousands of men and horses; impressive display of manpowerHSK 7–9

Glosses come from CC-CEDICT, used under CC BY-SA 4.0, and are the dictionary’s first sense rather than a translation chosen for context.