Meaning
buy
Chinese: 购买、买入。
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “mai” becomes a different word in each tone. 买 is the 3rd tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.
Stroke Order
Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.
Common Words
- 购买gòu mǎito purchase; to buy
- 买卖mǎi màito buy and sell
- 收买shōu mǎito purchase; to buy; to bribe; to buy off
- 买不起mǎi bu qǐcannot afford; can't afford buying
- 买下mǎi xiàto purchase (sth expensive, e.g. a house); to acquire (a company, a copyright etc)
Example Sentence
我去市场买了一些蔬菜。Wǒ qù shì chǎng mǎi le yì xiē shū cài.I went to the market and bought some vegetables.
我WǒI去qùto go市场shì chǎngmarketplace买mǎito buy了le(completed action)一yìone些xiēsome蔬菜shū càivegetables。
Go deeper
Where this character comes from
A net (the top) over cowrie shells (贝, money): scooping up goods with money. It means ‘to buy’. Simplified from 買.
A way to remember it
Netting goods with money (贝) — to buy.
Easy to confuse with
- 卖‘To sell’: the opposite — 买 with 十 added on top to put goods out.