ま

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ま U+307E, ま
HIRAGANA LETTER MA
← ぽ
 		Hiragana み →

Japanese

Stroke order
3 strokes

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Derived in the Heian period from writing the man'yōgana kanji 末 in the cursive sōsho style.

Syllable

ま • (ma) 

  1. The hiragana syllable ま (ma). Its equivalent in katakana is マ (ma). It is the thirty-first syllable in the gojūon order; its position is ま行あ段 (ma-gyō a-dan, “row ma, section a”).
See also

Etymology 2

Alternative spelling
間

Pronunciation

Noun

ま • (ma) 

  1. 間: space; room
Synonyms
Derived terms

Etymology 3

Alternative spelling
目

From Old Japanese. Appears to be the older, bound form of 目 (me2). See that entry for further details.

Probably cognate with 見る (miru, “to see”) and 芽 (me, “bud”). Never found in isolation in modern Japanese. Remains as the first syllable of various compounds.

Pronunciation

Noun

ま • (ma) 

  1. 目, 眼: prefixal bound form of め (me, “eye”)
Derived terms
Derived terms

Etymology 4

Alternative spelling
真

From Old Japanese. Attested since at least the Kojiki of 712 CE.

Pronunciation

(noun):

(prefix):

(pitch accent depends on the entire prefixed word)

Noun

ま • (ma) 

  1. 真: the truth, reality, genuineness
    Synonyms: 真実 (shinjitsu), 本当 (hontō)
Idioms

Prefix

ま • (ma-) 

  1. 真: real, genuine
    真(ま)心(ごころ) ― magokoro ― one's real mind, one's real thoughts and feelings about something
  2. 真: pure, unadulterated
    真(ま)白(しろ) ― mashiro ― pure white
  3. 真: definitely, certainly, exactly, precisely, directly
    真(ま)上(うえ) ― maue ― directly above
  4. 真: true, real, main (appended to words for animals or plants to indicate the representative type)
    真(ま)竹(たけ) ― matake ― true bamboo
  5. 真: (archaic, possibly obsolete, honorific) great, excellent
    真(ま)熊(くま)野(の) ― makumano ― great Kumano
Derived terms
Derived terms

Etymology 5

For pronunciation and definitions of ま – see the following entry.
【魔】S
demon, devil, evil spirit, evil influence
(This term, ま, is the hiragana spelling of the above term.)
For a list of all kanji read as ま, see Category:Japanese kanji read as ま.)

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK Publishing, →ISBN
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
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