买卖 mǎimai purchase and sale
purchase and sale; transaction; shop; store
How to remember 买卖: 买 to buy + 卖 to sell = purchase and sale.
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How it is used
- As a noun, read mǎimai with the second syllable toneless, it means business or a deal: 做买卖 (do business), 买卖不好 (business is bad).
- Read literally as mǎimài it is just two separate verbs, buy and sell - the fused neutral-tone reading is the everyday noun for trade.
- More folksy than 生意 (shēngyi), the general modern word for business - common in small-market and colloquial contexts.