馬うま

う

ま

○

Common wordJLPTN4Freq.FrequencyTop 2,000

Meanings

noun

horse

The ordinary noun for a horse. It can refer to the animal generally, including horses used for riding, farming, racing, or kept at a ranch.

牧ぼく場じょうで馬うまにえさをやった。
I fed a horse at the ranch.
彼かの女じょは小ちいさいころから馬うまに乗のっている。
She has been riding horses since she was little.

noun

horse racing; the horses

A colloquial shorthand for 競馬, especially in the context of betting or losing/winning money on races.

Written forms

馬うまUsage95%
Standard high-priority kanji spelling for the animal and for several established extended uses.
ウマUsage3%
kana-only spelling
Attested katakana spelling; often used for the animal name in biological, emphatic, or stylized contexts.
うまUsage1%
Hiragana spelling is practical in learner-facing, children’s, or informal writing, especially for the animal.

Kanji

馬horse

Similar words

競けい馬ば
The standard word for horse racing; 馬 meaning horse racing is a shorter, more casual expression often used around betting.
竜りゅう馬め
The full shogi term for a promoted bishop; 馬 is the common shortened form used during play.
乗じょう馬ば
Means horse riding or a riding horse; 馬 simply means the animal unless context adds the activity.

Etymology

Native Japanese うま written with the kanji 馬. The kanji spelling is conventionally associated with the meaning 'horse'; no further historical derivation is asserted here.