嘛

嘛 (Kangxi radical 30, 口+11, 14 strokes, cangjie input 口戈木木 (RIDD) or 口戈十金 (RIJC), four-corner 6009₄, composition ⿰口麻)

• Kangxi Dictionary: not present, would follow page 206, character 20
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 4230
• Dae Jaweon: page 429, character 19
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 678, character 7
• Unihan data for U+561B

嘛

1. (suggests that the preceding is obvious, sometimes impatient in tone): Of course!

   這樣才對嘛！／这样才对嘛！  ―  Zhèyàng cái duì ma!  ―  That's how it should be!

   • 你知嘛。林仔係特登嚟睇你㗎。 [Cantonese, trad.]
     你知嘛。林仔系特登嚟睇你㗎。 [Cantonese, simp.]

     nei⁵ zi¹ maa³. lam⁴ zai² hai⁶ dak⁶ dang¹ lai⁴ tai² nei⁵ gaa³. [Jyutping]

     Young Lam has come to specially see you. You already know this of course.

2. Signals a pause in a sentence, sometimes used to get the listener's attention.

   你嘛，不必去。  ―  Nǐ ma, bùbì qù.  ―  You, don't need to go.

   • 什麼嘛，我還以為地震了。 [MSC, trad.]
     什么嘛，我还以为地震了。 [MSC, simp.]

     Shénme ma, wǒ hái yǐwèi dìzhèn le. [Pinyin]

     What? I thought there was an earthquake.

3. Used at the end of an imperative or request to express expectation or dissuasion.

   別著急嘛。／别着急嘛。  ―  Bié zhāojí ma.  ―  Don't worry.

• → English: mah

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Similar but maybe unrelated to Zhuang maz”)

嘛

1. (dialectal) what

嘛

1. only used in 喇嘛 (lǎma)

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

嘛

1. (Hokkien, Taiwanese Hakka) also

   無魚蝦嘛好／无鱼虾嘛好 [Hokkien]  ―  bô hî hê mā hó [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]  ―  If there are no fish, prawns are also good.

2. (Hokkien, Taiwanese Hakka) still; nevertheless
   • 2014, 黃瑋傑, “阿芳仔个家族農業史”, in 《天光。日》‎^[1], performed by 黃瑋傑:

     恁驚嘛愛學到會 [Sixian Hakka, trad.]
     恁惊嘛爱学到会 [Sixian Hakka, simp.]

     án kiâng mà oi ho̍k to voi [Pha̍k-fa-sṳ]

     However scared, he still had to learn

嘛

1. only used in 唵嘛呢叭咪吽 (ǎn mānī bēimēi hōng)

嘛

1. only used in 嘛嘛吼

• “嘛”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[2], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• “嘛”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwanese Taigi] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2025.

(Hyōgai kanji)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

• Go-on: め (me)
• Kan-on: ば (ba)
• Kan’yō-on: ま (ma)

嘛 • (ma) (hangeul 마, revised ma, McCune–Reischauer ma, Yale ma)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

嘛: Hán Nôm readings: ma

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

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