馬子

See also: 马子

Chinese

		horse; surname	child; son; (noun suffix) child; son; (noun suffix); small thing; seed; egg; 1st earthly branch; 11 p.m.–1 a.m., midnight
trad. (馬子)		馬	子
simp. (马子)		马	子

Etymology 1

During the Han Dynasty, the emperor's commode was called 虎子 (hǔzǐ). However, the grandfather of Emperor Gaozu of Tang was called 李虎 (Lǐ Hǔ). Because it was forbidden for common items to contain the given names of members of the imperial family (see Naming taboo), 虎子 was changed to 馬子／马子 (mǎzi), which morphed later into 馬桶／马桶 (mǎtǒng).

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Standard)
(Pinyin): mǎzi

(Zhuyin): ㄇㄚˇ ˙ㄗ

(Nanjing, Nanjing Pinyin): mǎzii
Cantonese (Jyutping): maa⁵ zi²
Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): bé-chí

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: mǎzi
  - Zhuyin: ㄇㄚˇ ˙ㄗ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: mǎzi̊h
  - Wade–Giles: ma³-tzŭ⁵
  - Yale: mǎ-dz
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: maa.tzy
  - Palladius: мацзы (maczy)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /mä²¹⁴ d͡z̥z̩⁴/
- (Nanjing)
  - Nanjing Pinyin: mǎzii
  - Nanjing Pinyin (numbered): ma³ zii⁰
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /ma¹¹ t͡sz̩/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
  - Jyutping: maa⁵ zi²
  - Yale: máh jí
  - Cantonese Pinyin: maa⁵ dzi²
  - Guangdong Romanization: ma⁵ ji²
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /maː¹³ t͡siː³⁵/
Southern Min
- (Hokkien)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bé-chí
  - Tâi-lô: bé-tsí
  - Phofsit Daibuun: befcie
  - Sinological IPA (Xiamen): /be⁵³⁻⁴⁴ t͡si⁵³/
  - Sinological IPA (Quanzhou): /be⁵⁵⁴⁻²⁴ t͡si⁵⁵⁴/
  - Sinological IPA (Zhangzhou): /be⁵³⁻⁴⁴ t͡si⁵³/
  - Sinological IPA (Taipei): /be⁵³⁻⁴⁴ t͡si⁵³/
  - Sinological IPA (Kaohsiung): /be⁴¹⁻⁴⁴ t͡si⁴¹/

Noun

馬子

nightstool; closestool; commode; toilet; chamber pot
(gambling) chip
(chiefly Taiwan, colloquial, humorous or derogatory) girlfriend

Synonyms

(chamber pot; toilet): 馬桶／马桶 (mǎtǒng)
(chip): 籌碼／筹码 (chóumǎ)
(girlfriend):

Dialectal synonyms of 女朋友 (“girlfriend”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		女朋友, 女友
Northeastern Mandarin	Beijing	女朋友
	Taiwan	女朋友, 女友, 馬子 humorous or derogatory
	Singapore	女朋友
Central Plains Mandarin	Xuzhou	女朋友
Southwestern Mandarin	Chengdu	女娃子, 女娃娃, 女娃兒, 盤子
Southwestern Mandarin	Guilin	𧊅
Jianghuai Mandarin	Nanjing	女朋友, 攀西
Cantonese	Guangzhou	女朋友, 女
	Hong Kong	女朋友, 女友, 女, 女女, 菜 derogatory
	Taishan	女朋友, 女
	Dongguan	皮油
	Singapore (Guangfu)	女朋友
Hakka	Meixian	女朋友
	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	細妹朋友, 女朋友
	Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu)	細妹朋友, 女朋友
	Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu)	細妹朋友, 女朋友
	Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping)	細妹朋友, 女朋友
	Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an)	妹子朋友, 女朋友
	Senai (Huiyang)	貨
Eastern Min	Fuzhou	女朋友
Southern Min	Xiamen	女朋友
	Shishi	女朋友
	Taipei	姼仔 GT
	Penang (Hokkien)	查某朋友
	Singapore (Hokkien)	查某朋友
	Manila (Hokkien)	好的, 相好, 女朋友, 查某朋友
	Chaozhou	女朋友
	Haifeng	女朋友
	Singapore (Teochew)	查某朋友
	Leizhou	女朋友
	Singapore (Hainanese)	女朋友
Wu	Shanghai	女朋友
	Suzhou	女朋友
	Hangzhou	女朋友
	Ningbo	女朋友
	Zhoushan	女朋友
Xiang	Changsha	妹子
Note	GT - General Taiwanese (no specific region identified)

Derived terms

泡馬子 / 泡马子 (pào mǎzi)

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

Hakka (Sixian, PFS): mâ-chṳ́

Hakka
- (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Neipu)
  - Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: mâ-chṳ́
  - Hakka Romanization System: ma^ˊ zii^ˋ
  - Hagfa Pinyim: ma¹ zi³
  - Sinological IPA: /ma²⁴ t͡sɨ³¹/

Noun

馬子

(Taiwanese Hakka) foal

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 小馬 (“foal”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Classical Chinese		駒, 馬駒
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		小馬
Northeastern Mandarin	Beijing	馬駒兒, 馬駒子
Northeastern Mandarin	Harbin	馬駒子
Jilu Mandarin	Jinan	馬駒兒, 馬駒子
Jiaoliao Mandarin	Yantai (Muping)	馬駒兒, 馬駒子
Central Plains Mandarin	Luoyang	馬駒子
	Wanrong	馬駒子
	Xi'an	馬駒兒, 馬駒子
	Xining	尕馬兒, 馬駒子兒, 馬駒子
Lanyin Mandarin	Yinchuan	馬駒子, 馬駒駒
Lanyin Mandarin	Lanzhou	馬駒子
Southwestern Mandarin	Chengdu	小馬兒
	Wuhan	小馬
	Guiyang	小馬崽, 小馬兒
	Liuzhou	馬崽
Jianghuai Mandarin	Yangzhou	小馬
Jianghuai Mandarin	Hefei	小馬
Cantonese	Guangzhou	馬仔
	Hong Kong	馬仔
	Dongguan	馬仔
	Yangjiang	馬仔
Gan	Nanchang	馬崽子
Gan	Lichuan	馬崽兒
Hakka	Meixian	細馬仔
	Yudu	細馬
	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	馬子
	Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian)	馬子
	Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu)	馬子
	Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu)	馬子
	Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping)	馬子
	Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an)	馬么
Jin	Taiyuan	馬駒, 馬駒子
Northern Min	Jian'ou	馬仔
Eastern Min	Fuzhou	馬囝
Southern Min	Xiamen	馬仔囝, 馬仔
	Quanzhou	馬仔
	Zhangzhou	馬仔
	Penang (Hokkien)	馬囝
	Chaozhou	馬囝
	Leizhou	馬囝
Southern Pinghua	Nanning (Tingzi)	馬崽
Wu	Suzhou	小馬
Wu	Wenzhou	馬兒
Xiang	Changsha	馬崽子
Xiang	Shuangfeng	馬崽基

Japanese

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
馬	子
ま Grade: 2	こ > ご Grade: 1
jūbakoyomi

Noun

馬(ま)子(ご) • (mago)

packhorse driver
馬子(まご)にも衣装(いしょう)
mago ni mo ishō
(proverb) the clothes make the man

山(やま)んばばあと馬子(まご)どん
Yamanbabā to mago don
the Mountain-Witch and the Packhorse Driver, an Okinawan folktale

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
馬	子
うま Grade: 2	こ Grade: 1
kun'yomi

Proper noun

馬(うま)子(こ) • (Umako)

a male given name
- 蘇我馬子 (Soga-no Umako) - famous leader of the Soga clan (died 626).

References

“馬子”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎^[1] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2026
Jim Breen's 'EDICT'
The new Nelson Japanese-English character dictionary
NTC's New Japanese-English Dictionary
David Galef's book on proverbs "Even Monkeys Fall From Trees"
Daniel Crump Buchanan's book "Japanese Proverbs and Sayings"