馬虎

See also: 马虎

Chinese

	horse; surname	tiger
trad. (馬虎)	馬	虎
simp. (马虎)	马	虎
alternative forms	馬糊／马糊

Etymology

Etymology unclear. Several hypotheses exist. Compare Chinese 模糊 (móhu, “unclear; fuzzy”), 麻糊 (máhú, “careless”); Manchu ᠮᠠᡥᡡ (mahū, “wry face”), ᠯᠠᡥᡡ (lahū, “without hunting skills”). Attested as early as the Yuan dynasty. A literal etymology is unlikely; individual characters are possibly chosen based on their phonetic values rather than meanings, since many variant forms exist.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): mǎhu, mǎhū

(Zhuyin): ㄇㄚˇ ˙ㄏㄨ, ㄇㄚˇ ㄏㄨ
Cantonese (Jyutping): maa^5-1 fu^2-1
Southern Min
(Hokkien, POJ): má-hó͘ / má-hu

(Teochew, Peng'im): ma² hu¹
Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ¹ma-hu

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese, standard in Mainland and Taiwan)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: mǎhu
  - Zhuyin: ㄇㄚˇ ˙ㄏㄨ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: mǎhů
  - Wade–Giles: ma³-hu⁵
  - Yale: mǎ-hu
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: maa.hu
  - Palladius: маху (maxu)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /mä²¹⁴ xu⁴/
- (Standard Chinese, variant in Taiwan)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: mǎhū
  - Zhuyin: ㄇㄚˇ ㄏㄨ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: mǎhu
  - Wade–Giles: ma³-hu¹
  - Yale: mǎ-hū
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: maahu
  - Palladius: маху (maxu)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /mä²¹⁴⁻²¹ xu⁵⁵/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
  - Jyutping: maa^5-1 fu^2-1
  - Yale: mā fū
  - Cantonese Pinyin: maa^5-1 fu^2-1
  - Guangdong Romanization: ma^5-1 fu^2-1
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /maː¹³⁻⁵⁵ fuː³⁵⁻⁵⁵/
Southern Min
- (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: má-hó͘
  - Tâi-lô: má-hóo
  - Phofsit Daibuun: mafhor
  - IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou): /mã⁵³⁻⁴⁴ hɔ⁵³/
  - IPA (Quanzhou): /mã⁵⁵⁴⁻²⁴ hɔ⁵⁵⁴/
- (Hokkien: General Taiwanese)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: má-hu
  - Tâi-lô: má-hu
  - Phofsit Daibuun: mafhw
  - IPA (Kaohsiung): /mã⁴¹⁻⁴⁴ hu⁴⁴/
  - IPA (Taipei): /mã⁵³⁻⁴⁴ hu⁴⁴/
- (Teochew)
  - Peng'im: ma² hu¹
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: má hu
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /ma⁵²⁻³⁵ hu³³/
Wu
- (Northern: Shanghai)
  - Wugniu: ¹ma-hu
  - MiniDict: 'ma^平 hu
  - Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ¹'ma-hu
  - Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /ma⁵⁵ hu²¹/

Adjective

馬虎

careless; sloppy; negligent; skimpy

Synonyms

edit

大意 (dàyì)
容易 (literary)
投五投六 (⁶deu-ng-deu-loq) (Shanghainese)
揦西 (laa² sai¹) (Cantonese)
毛糙 (máocāo)
泡毛 (pao⁴ mao²) (Sichuanese)
潦草
疏忽
簡單／简单 (jiǎndān)
粗心 (cūxīn)
邋糊 (la³ fu²) (Xiang)

Antonyms

當心／当心 (dāngxīn)
小心 (xiǎoxīn)
細心／细心 (xìxīn)
仔細／仔细 (zǐxì)

Derived terms

References

^ 爱新觉罗·瀛生，《满语和汉语中的互相影响》。
^ 王惠樵，《河东方言语词辑考》：河东俗谓人凡事不经意，大大列列为“喇忽”。
^ 《清稗类钞‧方言类‧上海方言》：“马马虎虎，颟顸也，实即模模糊糊之转音耳。混天糊涂，糊涂之至也。”
^ 周作人，1935，《苦竹杂记‧模糊》：“模糊今俗语云麻糊，或写作马虎。我想这不必一定用动物名，还是写麻糊字，而南北可通用。”

[1] 爱新觉罗·瀛生，《满语和汉语中的互相影响》。

[2] 王惠樵，《河东方言语词辑考》：河东俗谓人凡事不经意，大大列列为“喇忽”。

[3] 《清稗类钞‧方言类‧上海方言》：“马马虎虎，颟顸也，实即模模糊糊之转音耳。混天糊涂，糊涂之至也。”

[4] 周作人，1935，《苦竹杂记‧模糊》：“模糊今俗语云麻糊，或写作马虎。我想这不必一定用动物名，还是写麻糊字，而南北可通用。”

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]