About
玛 (mǎ) is a phonosemantic compound, simplified from 瑪. The semantic component 王 (yù, the "jade" radical) marks it as a precious stone, while the phonetic 马 (mǎ, "horse") provides the pronunciation; the traditional form uses the full character 馬. It appears almost exclusively in the word 玛瑙 (mǎnǎo), meaning agate or cornelian. The link to the horse arose from the ancient belief that the layered patterns in raw agate resembled the intricate structure of a horse's brain.
Example Sentences Hide
玛丽是我的朋友。
这个玛瑙很漂亮。
玛丽的哥哥来了。
我喜欢玛瑙的颜色。
玛丽每天学习中文。
这块玛瑙是从巴西来的。
玛丽和她的朋友一起去公园。
那个商店里卖各种颜色的玛瑙。
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