HSK 6 · Nature

蚂蚁 mǎyǐ “ant” in Chinese

Said as máyǐ

Traditional 螞蟻

What 蚂蚁 means

  1. ant

How to say 蚂蚁

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale蚂mǎ3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale蚁yǐ3rd tone, dipping

Said as máyǐ. When two third tones meet, the first one rises into a second tone. You still write it with two third tones. How tone changes work

蚂蚁 in a sentence

  1. 有只蚂蚁咬我。

    Yǒu zhī mǎyǐ yǎo wǒ.

    An ant bit me.

    Sentence #13923415 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

  2. 有一排蚂蚁在厨房里进进出出。

    Yǒu yì pái mǎyǐ zài chúfáng lǐ jìnjìnchūchū.

    A line of ants is going in and out of the kitchen.

    Sentence #1167166 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 看看这些蚂蚁。

    Kànkan zhèxiē mǎyǐ.

    Look at these ants.

    Sentence #13744241 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 蚂蚁 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 蚂 (mǎ) with each of its parts in a different colour
蚂mǎ
  • 虫insect · chóngMeaning part
  • 马horse · mǎSound part

虫 hints at the meaning (insect); 马 (mǎ) hints at the sound. Compare it with mǎ.

The character 蚁 (yǐ) with each of its parts in a different colour
蚁yǐant
  • 虫insect · chóngMeaning part
  • 义right conduct · yìSound part

虫 hints at the meaning (insect); 义 (yì) hints at the sound. Compare it with yǐ.

How to write 蚂蚁

蚂 9 strokes · 蚁 9 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

蚂蚁 (mǎyǐ) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 蚂蚁 (mǎyǐ). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 蚂蚁

More words: Nature & Environment

砍伐kǎnfá · to fell (trees)矿产kuàngchǎn · mineral resources枯萎kūwěi · to wither茂盛màoshèng · lush萌芽méngyá · to sprout棉花miánhua · cotton排放páifàng · to discharge品种pǐnzhǒng · variety

FAQs

蚂蚁 (mǎyǐ) means “ant”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it mǎyǐ: mǎ with a 3rd tone, then yǐ with a 3rd tone. In speech it sounds like máyǐ. When two third tones meet, the first one rises into a second tone. You still write it with two third tones. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 蚂蚁 is written 螞蟻. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type mayi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 蚂蚁 from the suggestions. Typing mayi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
蚂蚁 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.