Did You Know?
Did you know?
Why does 马上 mean "right away" when it literally means "on a horse"?
Chinese
马上
Pinyin
Explanation
马上 combines 马 (horse) and 上 (on/up). Horses were the fastest transport in ancient China, so the phrase naturally came to mean "immediately" or "at once."
At a glance
- Category
- Language
- Chinese
- 马上
- Pinyin
- mǎshàng
- Tags
- idioms, history, everyday phrases
More did-you-know facts
Share this fact
