蚂 (mǎ) is a Chinese character meaning “used in 蚂蚁 (mǎyǐ, ant)”. It is written from 虫 (insect; bug; worm) and 马 (horse), side by side, and takes 9 strokes.
Build the character for “ant (insect)”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
虫 + 马
Left–right structure
Structure from: 现代字形拆分：左虫右马，与笔画数据一致；形声，从虫、马声
Memory aid
The left half, 虫 (chóng, insect), tells you this is a bug. The right half, 马 (mǎ, horse), is not about horses at all — it is only lending its sound: mǎ. A tiny insect, not a horse.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
9 strokes
In real words
- 蚂蚁mǎ yǐant蚂 = mǎspoken asmá yǐ
Go deeper
All readings
ant (in 蚂蚁)
used in 蚂蚁 (mǎyǐ, ant); bound morpheme naming small insects
用于「蚂蚁」等昆虫名称，不单用。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 蚂蚁mǎ yǐant蚂 = mǎspoken asmá yǐ
Rare readings, not taught: mà, má
Sound component
马 family exact
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 蚂 mean?
蚂 (mǎ) means used in 蚂蚁 (mǎyǐ, ant); bound morpheme naming small insects.
How do you pronounce 蚂?
It is pronounced mǎ.
What parts is 蚂 made of?
虫 (insect; bug; worm) and 马 (horse), side by side. The recorded source is: 现代字形拆分：左虫右马，与笔画数据一致；形声，从虫、马声. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 蚂 have?
9. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 蚂?
虫. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 蚂?
Common ones are 蚂蚁. The reading of 蚂 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.