馬虎

See also: 马虎

Chinese

horse; surname tiger
trad. (馬虎) 馬 虎
simp. (马虎) 马 虎
alt. 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

Adjective

馬虎

  1. careless; sloppy; negligent; skimpy

Synonyms

Derived terms

  • 打馬虎／打马虎
  • 打馬虎眼／打马虎眼
  • 馬虎子／马虎子
  • 馬虎從事／马虎从事

References

  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。”
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