Definitions

1. Noun:
   • Horse: A large, four-legged animal used for riding, pulling loads, or racing. This meaning is most common in the context of chess ("con mã" - the knight piece) or traditional card games.
   • Code; Cipher: A system of symbols, letters, or signals used to represent secret information or to standardize communication.
   • Varnish; Showy Appearance: Superficial, often deceptive, outward beauty or polish. It emphasizes a contrast between an attractive exterior and a potentially inferior interior quality.
   • Plumage: The long, beautiful, and glossy feathers on a bird, especially a rooster or male bird.
   • Paper Offerings: Objects made of paper (like money, clothes, houses) that are burned as votive offerings to the dead in some Vietnamese spiritual practices.
   • Yard: A unit of length in the imperial system, equal to 0.9144 meters.

Usage Examples

• Noun (Horse):

  • Trong cờ vua, quân mã di chuyển theo hình chữ L. (In chess, the knight moves in an L-shape.)
  • Anh ấy rút được con mã đỏ trong ván bài tam cúc. (He drew the red horse card in the game of Tam Cúc.)

• Noun (Code):

  • Họ trao đổi thông tin bằng mã Morse. (They exchanged information using Morse code.)
  • Tin nhắn đã được mã hóa để bảo mật. (The message was encrypted for security.)

• Noun (Showy Appearance):

  • Chiếc xe cũ kỹ nhưng mã ngoài vẫn còn bóng loáng. (The car is old but its exterior is still shiny.)
  • Đừng chỉ nhìn mã mà đánh giá con người. (Don't judge a person by their appearance alone.)

• Noun (Plumage):

  • Con gà trống này có bộ mã rất đẹp. (This rooster has very beautiful plumage.)

• Noun (Paper Offerings):

  • Gia đình đốt mã cho người đã khuất. (The family burned paper offerings for the deceased.)

• Noun (Yard):

  • Sân vườn nhà họ rộng khoảng 50 mã. (Their garden is about 50 yards wide.)

Advanced Usage

• "tốt mã": To have a good, attractive appearance (often with an implication that the substance may not match).

  • Cây cảnh này tốt mã nhưng khó chăm. (This ornamental plant looks good but is hard to care for.)

• "đồ mã": Refers to items of poor quality that break easily, or specifically to paper votive objects.

  • Chiếc đồng hồ này là đồ mã, dùng vài bữa là hỏng. (This watch is cheap junk, it breaks after a few uses.)

Variants and Related Words

• Mã hóa (verb): To encode, to encrypt.

  • Phần mềm này dùng để mã hóa tập tin. (This software is used to encrypt files.)

• Giải mã (verb): To decode, to decipher.

  • Các nhà khoa học đang cố gắng giải mã tín hiệu. (Scientists are trying to decode the signal.)

• Mật mã (noun): Cipher, secret code.

  • Cuốn sách viết về lịch sử mật mã. (The book is about the history of ciphers.)

Synonyms

• Mã (Code): Ký hiệu (symbol), ám hiệu (signal).
• Mã (Appearance): Vẻ ngoài (exterior), hình thức (form).
• Mã (Horse): Ngựa (horse - the animal itself, not the game piece).

Related Phrases

• "Chờ được mã đã rã đám": (Idiom) Literally "By the time the paper offerings are ready, the funeral procession has already dispersed." It means missing an opportunity because of being too slow or waiting for something unnecessary.
• "Được cái mã": To only have the appearance (and nothing else of substance).

noun

1. horse

noun

1. code;cipher
   • điện viết bằng mã
     a cable in code

noun

1. varnish; showy appearance
   • tốt mã
     to have good appearance