ま

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

Stroke order

• IPA^(key):

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

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”).

• (Hiragana) 平仮名; あぁ, いぃ, うぅゔ, えぇ, おぉ, かゕが, きぎ, くぐ, けゖげ, こ𛄲 (𛄲)ご, さざ, しじ, すず, せぜ, そぞ, ただ, ちぢ, つっづ, てで, とど, な, に, ぬ, ね, の, はばぱ, ひびぴ, ふぶぷ, へべぺ, ほぼぽ, ま, み, む, め, も, やゃ, 𛀆, ゆゅ, 𛀁, よょ, らら゚, りり゚, るる゚, れれ゚, ろろ゚, わゎわ゙, ゐ𛅐 (𛅐)ゐ゙, 𛄟 (𛄟), ゑ𛅑 (𛅑)ゑ゙, を𛅒 (𛅒)を゙, ん, ー, ゝ, ゞ, ゟ

• (Tokyo) ま (Heiban – )^[1][2]
• IPA^(key):

ま • (ma) 

1. 間: space; room

• 中(なか) (naka)

• 床(とこ)の間(ま) (toko no ma)
• 茶(ちゃ)の間(ま) (cha no ma)
• 束(つか)の間(ま) (tsuka no ma)
• 間(ま)に合(あ)う (ma ni au)
• 間(ま)もなく (ma mo naku)

From Old Japanese.^[3] 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.

• IPA^(key):

ま • (ma) 

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

From Old Japanese. Attested since at least the Kojiki of 712 CE.^[3]

(noun):

• (Tokyo) ま (Heiban – )^[1][2]
• IPA^(key):

(prefix):

• IPA^(key):

(pitch accent depends on the entire prefixed word)

ま • (ma) 

1. 真: the truth, reality, genuineness

   Synonyms: 真実 (shinjitsu), 本当 (hontō)

• 真(ま)に受(う)ける (ma ni ukeru)

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