馬路

See also: 马路

Chinese

		horse; surname	road; path; way
trad. (馬路)		馬	路
simp. (马路)		马	路

Etymology

First attested in the 4th century BC in Zuo Zhuan, meaning “wide road used for horses”. How this came to be used as a general term for “paved road; street” is debated. Common theories include:

• A natural semantic evolution (± modern repurposing) of the literary Chinese term.
• A phono-semantic matching of English macadam (the modern method of road construction) + 路 (“road”), originally used in Shanghainese.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): mǎlù

  (Zhuyin): ㄇㄚˇ ㄌㄨˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): maa⁵ lou⁶
• Hakka

  (Sixian, PFS): mâ-lu

  (Meixian, Guangdong): ma¹ lu⁴

• Eastern Min (BUC): mā-diô
• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): bé-lō͘ / bée-lō͘

  (Teochew, Peng'im): bhê² lou⁷

• Wu (Wugniu)
  • (Northern): ⁶mo-lu

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)
    • Hanyu Pinyin: mǎlù
    • Zhuyin: ㄇㄚˇ ㄌㄨˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: mǎlù
    • Wade–Giles: ma³-lu⁴
    • Yale: mǎ-lù
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: maaluh
    • Palladius: малу (malu)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /mä²¹⁴⁻²¹ lu⁵¹/
    • Homophones:

      [Show/Hide]
      edit edit 馬路／马路 馬陸／马陆 馬鹿／马鹿

• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: maa⁵ lou⁶
    • Yale: máh louh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: maa⁵ lou⁶
    • Guangdong Romanization: ma⁵ lou⁶
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /maː¹³ lou̯²²/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: mâ-lu
    • Hakka Romanization System: ma´ lu
    • Hagfa Pinyim: ma¹ lu⁴
    • Sinological IPA: /ma²⁴⁻¹¹ lu⁵⁵/
  • (Meixian)
    • Guangdong: ma¹ lu⁴
    • Sinological IPA: /ma⁴⁴⁻³⁵ lu⁵³/
• Eastern Min
  • (Fuzhou)
    • Bàng-uâ-cê: mā-diô
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ma³³⁻⁵⁵ ^(t-)luɔ²⁴²/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Quanzhou, General Taiwanese, Xiamen, Singapore)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bé-lō͘
    • Tâi-lô: bé-lōo
    • Phofsit Daibuun: beflo
    • IPA (Singapore): /be⁴²⁻²⁴ lɔ²²/
    • IPA (Taipei): /be⁵³⁻⁴⁴ lɔ³³/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /be⁵⁵⁴⁻²⁴ lɔ⁴¹/
    • IPA (Xiamen): /be⁵³⁻⁴⁴ lɔ²²/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /be⁴¹⁻⁴⁴ lɔ³³/
  • (Hokkien: Zhangzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bée-lō͘
    • Tâi-lô: bée-lōo
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /bɛ⁵³⁻⁴⁴ lɔ²²/
  • (Teochew)
    • Peng'im: bhê² lou⁷
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: bé lōu
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /be⁵²⁻³⁵ lou¹¹/
• Wu
  • (Shanghai):
    • Wugniu: ⁶mo-lu
    • MiniDict: mo^去 lu
    • Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ³mo-lu
    • Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /mo²² lu⁴⁴/

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• Middle Chinese: maeX luH

Rime
Character	馬	路
Reading #	1/1	1/1
Initial (聲)	明 (4)	來 (37)
Final (韻)	麻 (98)	模 (23)
Tone (調)	Rising (X)	Departing (H)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open
Division (等)	II	I
Fanqie	莫下切	洛故切
Baxter	maeX	luH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/mˠaX/	/luoH/
Pan Wuyun	/mᵚaX/	/luoH/
Shao Rongfen	/maX/	/loH/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/maɨX/	/lɔH/
Li Rong	/maX/	/loH/
Wang Li	/maX/	/luH/
Bernard Karlgren	/maX/	/luoH/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	mǎ	lù
Expected Cantonese Reflex	maa5	lou6

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*mˤraʔ  Cə.rˤak-s/

  (Zhengzhang): /*mraːʔ  ɡ·raːɡs/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	馬	路
Reading #	1/1	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	mǎ	lù
Middle Chinese	‹ mæX ›	‹ luH ›
Old Chinese	/*mˁraʔ/	/*Cə.rˁak-s/
English	horse	road
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p; * Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	馬	路
Reading #	1/1	1/1
No.	8715	3856
Phonetic component	馬	各
Rime group	魚	暮
Rime subdivision	0	0
Corresponding MC rime	馬	路
Old Chinese	/*mraːʔ/	/*ɡ·raːɡs/

Noun

馬路

1. (literary, archaic) wide road used for horses and horse-drawn carriages
2. (modern usage) wide and flat road for the passage of vehicles; paved road; (by extension) road; street (Classifier: 條／条 m)

   過馬路／过马路  ―  guò mǎlù  ―  to cross the road

   馬路中央／马路中央  ―  mǎlù zhōngyāng  ―  the middle of the road

Synonyms

• (Hokkien, Teochew) 馬車路／马车路
• (Hainanese) 車路／车路

Derived terms

• 壓馬路／压马路
• 柏油馬路／柏油马路 (bǎiyóu mǎlù)
• 走馬路仔／走马路仔
• 軋馬路／轧马路 (yà mǎlù)
• 馬路如虎口／马路如虎口 (mǎlù rú hǔkǒu)
• 馬路崖子／马路崖子
• 馬路新聞／马路新闻
• 馬路消息／马路消息
• 馬路牙子／马路牙子 (mǎlù yázi)

 

See also

• 道路 (dàolù)
• 街 (jiē)