嘛

嘛	U+561B, 嘛 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-561B

← 嘚
[U+561A]

CJK Unified Ideographs

嘜 →
[U+561C]

Translingual

Han character

嘛 (Kangxi radical 30, 口+11, 14 strokes, cangjie input 口戈木木 (RIDD) or 口戈十金 (RIJC), four-corner 6009₄, composition ⿰口麻)

References

KangXi: not present, would follow page 206, character 20

Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 4230

Dae Jaweon: page 429, character 19

Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 678, character 7

Unihan data for U+561B

Chinese

Etymology 1

trad.		嘛
simp. ^#		嘛

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): ma (ma⁵)
(Zhuyin): ˙ㄇㄚ
Cantonese (Jyutping): maa³
Min Nan (POJ): --ma / --mah

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: ma
  - Zhuyin: ˙ㄇㄚ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: må
  - Wade–Giles: ma⁵
  - Yale: ma
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: .ma
  - Palladius: ма (ma)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /mä/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
  - Jyutping: maa³
  - Yale: ma
  - Cantonese Pinyin: maa³
  - Guangdong Romanization: ma³
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /maː³³/
Min Nan
- (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: --ma
  - Tâi-lô: --ma
- (Hokkien: General Taiwanese)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: --mah
  - Tâi-lô: --mah

Definitions

嘛

(suggests that the preceding is obvious, sometimes impatient in tone): Of course!
這樣才對嘛！／这样才对嘛！ ― Zhèyàng cái duì ma! ― That's how it should be!
- 你知嘛。林仔係特登嚟睇你㗎。 [Cantonese, trad.]
  你知嘛。林仔系特登嚟睇你㗎。 [Cantonese, simp.]
  nei⁵ zi¹ maa³. lam⁴ zai² hai⁶ dak⁶ dang¹ lai⁴ tai² nei⁵ gaa³. [Jyutping]
  Young Lam has come to specially see you. You already know this of course.
Signals a pause in a sentence, sometimes used to get the listener's attention.
你嘛，不必去。 ― Nǐ ma, bùbì qù. ― You, don't need to go.
- 什麼嘛，我還以為地震了。 [MSC, trad.]
  什么嘛，我还以为地震了。 [MSC, simp.]
  Shénme ma, wǒ hái yǐwèi dìzhèn le. [Pinyin]
  What? I thought there was an earthquake.
Used at the end of an imperative or request to express expectation or dissuasion.
別著急嘛。／别着急嘛。 ― Bié zhāojí ma. ― Don't worry.

Descendants

→ English: mah

Etymology 2

trad.		嘛
simp. ^#		嘛

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): má (ma²)
(Zhuyin): ㄇㄚˊ

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: má
  - Zhuyin: ㄇㄚˊ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: má
  - Wade–Giles: ma²
  - Yale: má
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: ma
  - Palladius: ма (ma)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /mä³⁵/
- (Standard Chinese, erhua-ed) (嘛兒／嘛儿)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: már
  - Zhuyin: ㄇㄚˊㄦ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: már
  - Wade–Giles: marh²
  - Yale: már
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: mal
  - Palladius: мар (mar)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /mɑɻ³⁵/

Definitions

嘛

(dialectal) what

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 什麼 (“what”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Classical Chinese		何
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		什麼
Mandarin	Beijing	什麼, 嗎兒
	Taiwan	什麼
	Tianjin	嗎
	Chengde	什麼
	Tangshan	啥
	Cangzhou	什麼, 嗎
	Baoding	什麼
	Shijiazhuang	啥
	Chifeng	啥
	Hulunbuir (Hailar)	什麼, 啥
	Heihe	什麼, 啥
	Qiqihar	什麼, 啥
	Harbin	什麼, 啥
	Jiamusi	什麼, 啥
	Baicheng	啥
	Changchun	啥
	Tonghua	啥
	Shenyang	什麼, 啥
	Dandong	什麼, 啥
	Jinzhou	什麼, 啥
	Dalian	什麼
	Yantai	什麼
	Yantai (Muping)	麼, 麼個
	Qingdao	什麼
	Lijin	啥, 啥稿兒
	Weifang (Weicheng)	啥, 什麼
	Weifang (Fangzi)	什麼
	Weifang (Hanting)	什麼
	Changyi	什麼
	Gaomi	什麼
	Zhucheng	什麼
	Anqiu	什麼
	Changle	啥, 什麼
	Linqu	什麼
	Qingzhou	啥, 什麼嘎
	Shouguang	啥嘎
	Rizhao	什麼
	Wulian	什麼
	Jinan	麼兒, 麼, 什麼, 麼個
	Jining	什麼
	Luoyang	啥
	Wanrong	色
	Shangqiu	啥
	Yuanyang	什麼
	Zhengzhou	啥
	Lingbao	啥兒
	Xinyang	啥
	Baihe	啥
	Hanzhong	啥子
	Xi'an	什麼, 啥
	Baoji	啥, 咋麼
	Yinchuan	什麼, 啥
	Tianshui	啥
	Lanzhou	什麼, 啥
	Dunhuang	啥
	Xining	啥
	Hami	什麼, 啥
	Ürümqi	啥
	Wuhan	什麼, 麼事
	Yichang	什麼兒
	Xiangyang	什麼, 啥子
	Tianmen	什麼, 什麼的
	Hong'an	什麼, 麼事, 麼東西
	Chengdu	啥子
Nanchong	啥, 啥子
Dazhou	啥子
Hanyuan	啥, 啥子
Xichang	啥子
Zigong	啥子
Chongqing	啥子
Lhasa	啥子
Guiyang	哪樣
Zunyi	啷個, 啥子
Bijie	哪樣, 啷子
Liping	甚子
Zhaotong	什麼, 啥子
Dali	咋個
Kunming	什麼, 哪樣
Mengzi	哪樣
Guilin	什麼
Guilin (Lingui)	什麼
Guanyang	什麼
Liuzhou	什麼
Liuzhou (Luorong)	什麼
Jishou	什麼
Changde	麼得
Xiangtan (Jiangnan Industries Group koine)	麼子
Anqing	什麼, 麼東西
Xuzhou	什麼, 啥, 啥子
Fuyang	什麼, 啥
Wuhu	什麼
Yangzhou	什麼
Lianyungang	什麼
Lianshui	什麼
Nanjing	什麼
Hefei	什麼, 哄, 哄個
Nantong	甚呢
Malaysia	什麼
Singapore	什麼
Sokuluk (Gansu Dungan)	啥
Dagudi (Maliba)	什麼
Reshuitang (Longling)	什麼
Mae Salong (Lancang)	哪樣, 什麼
Mae Sai (Tengchong)	什麼
Cantonese	Guangzhou	乜嘢, 咩嘢, 乜, 咩
	Hong Kong	乜嘢, 咩嘢, 乜, 咩
	Hong Kong (San Tin Weitou)	咩嘢
	Hong Kong (Kam Tin Weitou)	乜嘢
	Hong Kong (Ting Kok)	咩嘢
	Hong Kong (Tung Ping Chau)	咩嘢
	Macau	乜嘢
	Guangzhou (Panyu)	乜嘢
	Guangzhou (Huashan, Huadu)	乜嘢
	Guangzhou (Conghua)	乜嘢
	Guangzhou (Zengcheng)	乜嘢
	Foshan	乜嘢
	Foshan (Shatou, Nanhai)	乜嘢
	Foshan (Shunde)	乜嘢
	Foshan (Sanshui)	乜嘢
	Foshan (Mingcheng, Gaoming)	乜嘢
	Zhongshan (Shiqi)	乜嘢
	Zhuhai (Qianshan)	乜嘢
	Zhuhai (Doumen, Shangheng Tanka)	乜
	Zhuhai (Doumen)	乜
	Jiangmen (Baisha)	乜嘢
	Jiangmen (Xinhui)	乜
	Taishan	乜, 乜嘢
	Taishan (Guanghai)	乜, 乜嘎
	Kaiping (Chikan)	乜, 乜啊, 乜嘢
	Enping (Niujiang)	乜嘢
	Heshan (Yayao)	乜嘢
	Dongguan	乜嘢, 乜
	Shenzhen (Shajing, Bao'an)	乜嘢
	Shenzhen (Dapeng)	乜嘢, 乜
	Yangjiang	乜, 乜嘢
	Wuzhou	乜嘢
	Hepu (Lianzhou)	物底
	Guiping	乜嘢
	Mengshan (Xihe)	什麼
	Beiliu (Tangliao)	乜嘢
	Baise	乜嘢
	Qinzhou	乜嘢, 乜
	Qinzhou (Xiniujiao)	乜底
	Beihai	乜嘢
	Beihai (Nankang)	乜嘢
	Beihai (Yingpan)	乜底
	Beihai (Qiaogang - Cô Tô)	乜嘢
	Beihai (Qiaogang - Cát Bà)	乜嘢
	Hengxian	哪門
	Fangchenggang (Fangcheng)	乜嘢
	Kuala Lumpur (Guangfu)	乜嘢, 咩
	Penang (Guangfu)	乜嘢, 咩
	Singapore (Guangfu)	乜嘢, 咩, 乜
	Ho Chi Minh City (Guangfu)	乜嘢
	Móng Cái	乜嘢
	Yangon (Taishan)	乜
Gan	Nanchang	什哩
	Lichuan	什仔
	Pingxiang	咋個
Hakka	Meixian	麼個
	Xingning	麼個
	Dabu (Gaobei)	麼個
	Fengshun (Tangkeng)	麼個
	Fengshun (Fengliang)	麼個
	Fengshun (Pantian)	麼個
	Huizhou (Huicheng Bendihua)	乜嘢
	Huiyang	麼個
	Huidong (Daling)	麼個
	Dongguan (Qingxi)	麼個
	Shenzhen (Shatoujiao)	麼個
	Zhongshan (Nanlang Heshui)	乜嘢
	Wuhua (Huacheng)	麼個
	Wengyuan	麼個
	Nanxiong (Zhuji)	什麼
	Shaoguan (Qujiang)	麼個
	Lianshan (Xiaosanjiang)	麼個
	Liannan	麼個
	Conghua (Lütian)	麼個
	Jiexi	麼個
	Luhe	麼個
	Changting	麼個, 什西哩, 什西
	Wuping	麼個, 麼事
	Wuping (Pingyu)	麼個
	Liancheng	麼個, 什麼
	Ninghua	什麼
	Yudu	子個
	Ruijin	咩, 唔幾
	Shicheng	什麼
	Shangyou (Shexi)	哪個, 哪項, 個哪, 哪
	Tonggu (Sandu)	麼個
	Ganzhou (Panlong)	什麼
	Dayu	什麼
	Taoyuan	麼個
	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	麼個
	Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian)	麼個
	Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu)	麼個
	Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu)	麼個
	Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping)	麼個
	Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an)	麼個
	Nantou (Guoxing; Lufeng)	麼個
	Hong Kong	麼個
	Mengshan (Xihe)	麼個
	Luchuan	麼個
	Senai (Huiyang)	麼個
	Kuching (Hepo)	麼個
	Singkawang	麼個
	Pontianak (Meixian)	麼個
	Singapore (Dabu)	麼個
	Bangkok (Meixian)	麼個
	Bangkok (Fengshun)	麼個
Huizhou	Jixi	麼仂
Huizhou	Shexian	麼二
Jin	Taiyuan	甚
	Yangyuan	什麼, 啥, 咋, 甚
	Datong	啥
	Xinzhou	甚
	Lishi	甚
	Linfen	啥
	Changzhi	什麼
	Linhe	什麼, 甚
	Jining	甚
	Hohhot	甚
	Erenhot	什麼, 甚
	Pingshan	什麼兒
	Zhangjiakou	什麼
	Handan	什麼, 啥
	Linzhou	啥
	Suide	什麼, 甚
Jiuxing Yumin	Lanxi	啥哩
Min Bei	Jian'ou	孰事, 孰麼, 孰麼事
	Jian'ou (Dikou)	橘二, 橘二事
	Songxi	什麼事
	Jianyang	孰事
	Wuyishan	什麼事
	Pucheng (Shibei)	孰麼, 孰, 孰麼事, 孰事, 孰麼契, 孰契
Min Dong	Fuzhou	什乇, 什名, 什乇名, 面乇名
	Changle	什乇
	Fuqing	什乇, 乜乇
	Pingtan	什乇
	Yongtai	哪乇
	Gutian	乇, 什乇
	Fu'an	乜乇
	Ningde	哪乇
	Shouning	呢乇
	Zhouning	乜乇
	Fuding	哪乇
	Matsu	什乇
	Singapore (Fuqing)	什乇
Min Nan	Xiamen	什物, 啥物, 啥貨
	Xiamen (Tong'an)	什物
	Quanzhou	啥物, 乜
	Jinjiang	啥物
	Nan'an	什物
	Shishi	啥物
	Hui'an	什物
	Anxi	啥物
	Yongchun	啥物
	Dehua	啥物
	Zhangzhou	哪貨仔, 哪貨, 哪仔, 哪物仔, 哪物, 什物, 啥物, 啥貨
	Zhangzhou (Longhai)	啥物, 啥
	Zhangzhou (Changtai)	啥
	Hua'an	什物
	Nanjing	哪物
	Pinghe	啥物
	Zhangpu	啥貨
	Yunxiao	什物仔
	Zhao'an	什物
	Dongshan	什物
	Taipei	啥貨, 啥物, 啥
	Taipei (Wanhua)	啥物
	New Taipei (Sanxia)	啥
	Kaohsiung	啥, 啥貨, 啥物
	Kaohsiung (Cijin)	啥物, 啥
	Kaohsiung (Hongmaogang, Siaogang)	啥物, 啥
	Kaohsiung (Dalinpu, Siaogang)	啥物, 啥
	Yilan	啥貨, 啥物貨
	Changhua (Lukang)	啥物, 啥貨
	Taichung	啥, 啥貨
	Taichung (Wuqi)	啥物
	Tainan	啥物, 啥貨
	Taitung	啥物
	Hsinchu	啥, 啥物
	Kinmen	啥貨, 啥物, 什物, 物代
	Penghu (Magong)	啥貨, 物代
	Penang (Hokkien)	何物
	Singapore (Hokkien)	什物
	Manila (Hokkien)	啥物
	Medan (Hokkien)	何物
	Longyan	什物
	Datian	啥貨, 什物
	Chaozhou	乜個, 乜
	Shantou	乜個, 乜
	Shantou (Chenghai)	乜個
	Shantou (Chaoyang)	乜個
	Jieyang	乜個, 乜, 是乜
	Haifeng	乜個, 乜
	Bangkok (Teochew)	乜個
	Phnom Penh (Teochew)	乜個
	Johor Bahru (Teochew)	乜個
	Singapore (Teochew)	乜個, 什乜, 底個
	Batam (Teochew)	乜個, 什乜, 底個
	Pontianak (Teochew)	乜個
	Leizhou	乜
	Wenchang	乜
	Haikou	乜, 個乜
	Qionghai	乜
	Singapore (Hainanese)	乜
Min Zhong	Yong'an	啥貨
	Sanyuan	啥貨
	Shaxian	啥貨
Zhongshan Min	Sanxiang	乜儗
Southern Pinghua	Nanning (Tingzi)	門, 哪門
Southern Pinghua	Binyang (Xinqiao)	哪門
Waxiang	Guzhang (Gaofeng)	什個
Waxiang	Luxi (Lijiatian)	什家
Wu	Shanghai	啥, 啥個, 啥物事
	Shanghai (Chongming)	何
	Suzhou	啥
	Danyang	點高
	Hangzhou	啥
	Ningbo	啥, 啥西
	Wenzhou	何乜
	Jinhua	待, 淡
Xiang	Changsha	麼子
	Loudi	麼子
	Shuangfeng	麼子
	Quanzhou	什麼
	Guanyang (Wenshi)	啥

Compounds

嘛兒／嘛儿

幹嘛／干嘛 (gànmá)

Etymology 3

trad.		嘛
simp. ^#		嘛

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): ma (ma⁵)
(Zhuyin): ˙ㄇㄚ
Cantonese (Jyutping): maa⁴

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: ma
  - Zhuyin: ˙ㄇㄚ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: må
  - Wade–Giles: ma⁵
  - Yale: ma
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: .ma
  - Palladius: ма (ma)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /mä/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
  - Jyutping: maa⁴
  - Yale: màh
  - Cantonese Pinyin: maa⁴
  - Guangdong Romanization: ma⁴
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /maː²¹/

Definitions

嘛

Only used in 喇嘛 (lǎma).

Compounds

喇嘛 (lǎma)
喇嘛教 (Lǎmajiào)

燒喇嘛／烧喇嘛
班禪喇嘛／班禅喇嘛 (bānchán lǎma)

達賴喇嘛／达赖喇嘛 (dálài lǎma)

Etymology 4

trad.		嘛
simp. ^#		嘛
alternative forms		嗎／吗罵／骂亦也

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

Min Nan (POJ): mā / mǎ

Min Nan
- (Hokkien: Xiamen, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: mā
  - Tâi-lô: mā
  - Phofsit Daibuun: ma
  - IPA (Taipei, Kaohsiung): /mã³³/
  - IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou): /mã²²/
- (Hokkien: Quanzhou, Jinjiang, Philippines)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: mǎ
  - Tâi-lô: mǎ
  - IPA (Jinjiang): /mã³³/
  - IPA (Quanzhou): /mã²²/
  - IPA (Philippines): /ma³³/

Definitions

嘛

(Min Nan) also
無魚蝦嘛好／无鱼虾嘛好 [Hokkien] ― bô hî hê mā hó [Pe̍h-ōe-jī] ― If there are no fish, prawns are also good.

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 也 (“also, too”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Classical Chinese		亦
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		也
Mandarin	Beijing	也
	Taiwan	也
	Jinan	也
	Xi'an	也
	Wuhan	也
	Chengdu	也
	Guilin	也
	Yangzhou	也
	Hefei	也
	Malaysia	也
	Singapore	也
Cantonese	Guangzhou	都, 亦
	Hong Kong	都, 亦, 亦都
	Macau	都, 亦 formal
	Zhongshan (Shiqi)	都, 也
	Taishan	亦
	Kaiping (Chikan)	亦, 都, 亦都
	Yangjiang	也
	Kuala Lumpur (Guangfu)	都
	Singapore (Guangfu)	都, 亦都
Gan	Nanchang	也
Hakka	Meixian	也
	Wuhua (Meilin)	也
	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	乜
	Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian)	乜, 也
	Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu)	乜
	Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu)	乜
	Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping)	乜
	Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an)	嘛
	Kuching (Hepo)	呠
Huizhou	Jixi	也
Jin	Taiyuan	也
Min Bei	Jian'ou	也
Min Dong	Fuzhou	也
Min Nan	Xiamen	也, 嘛
	Quanzhou	也, 嘛
	Zhangzhou	也, 嘛
	Taipei	也, 嘛
	Penang (Hokkien)	呠
	Singapore (Hokkien)	也, 呠, 嘛
	Manila (Hokkien)	也, 嘛
	Chaozhou	也
	Shantou	也
	Jieyang	也
	Singapore (Teochew)	呠, 也, 嘛
	Pontianak (Teochew)	也
	Wenchang	也
Wu	Shanghai	也
	Suzhou	亦
	Wenzhou	也
Xiang	Changsha	也
Xiang	Shuangfeng	也

Etymology 5

trad.		嘛
simp. ^#		嘛

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): má (ma²)
(Zhuyin): ㄇㄚˊ

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: má
  - Zhuyin: ㄇㄚˊ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: má
  - Wade–Giles: ma²
  - Yale: má
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: ma
  - Palladius: ма (ma)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /mä³⁵/

Definitions

嘛

Only used in 唵嘛呢叭咪吽 (ǎn mānī bēimēi hōng).

Etymology 6

trad.		嘛
simp. ^#		嘛
alternative forms		嗎／吗

Pronunciation

Min Nan (POJ): mà

Min Nan
- (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, General Taiwanese)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: mà
  - Tâi-lô: mà
  - Phofsit Daibuun: max
  - IPA (Xiamen, Kaohsiung): /mã²¹/
  - IPA (Quanzhou): /mã⁴¹/
  - IPA (Taipei): /mã¹¹/

Definitions

嘛

Only used in 嘛嘛吼.

References

“嘛”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
“Entry #10417”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (in Chinese and Min Nan), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2011.

Japanese

Kanji

嘛

(uncommon “Hyōgai” kanji)

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Readings

Go-on: め (me)

Kan-on: ば (ba)

Kan’yō-on: ま (ma)

Korean

Hanja

嘛 • (ma) (hangeul 마, revised ma, McCune–Reischauer ma, Yale ma)

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Vietnamese

Han character

嘛: Hán Nôm readings: ma

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References

Nom Foundation