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I'm learning Japanese, but I'm a beginner, and I need to understand why this
kanji is a compound of the kanji for "horse" and "deer":

> 馬鹿 = idiot
>
> 馬 = horse
>
> 鹿 = deer

Why?
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2016-04-15T03:37:55.573
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question
kanji ateji
Why is the kanji of idiot written with the kanji for "horse" and "deer" together?
馬鹿 is an ateji, which means either _the readings of the individual kanji do
not match the reading of the word_ , or _the meanings of the individual kanji
do not match the meaning of the word_. In this case, it's the latter - why
would an idiot be described as a horse and/or a deer?

As for why these particular kanji were chosen to represent ばか, the etymology
is unclear. See this webpage for several theories.
<https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/baka-meaning/>

In this case, the individual kanji meanings were forgone. Other ateji include
時計{とけい} (readings forgone), 真面目{まじめ} (readings forgone), 七夕{たなばた} (readings
forgone), 寿司{すし} (meanings forgone), etc.
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answer
馬鹿 is also written as 莫迦. Based on 岩波書店’s 広辞苑, it was originally a Buddhist
terminology derived from Sanskrit, either “moka –phonetically transcribed as
慕何 in Kanji” meaning ‘stupidity,’ or “mahaliaka – phonetically transcribed as
魔訶羅 meaning ‘ignorance’ - the source: 文明節用集 – Bunmei Glossary published in
文明6年(1474 ).

The letter of 馬 is read and vocalized as “ba,” and 鹿 is read and vocalized as
“ka” both in 音読み. So its combination is バカ - baka.

Both 馬鹿 and 莫迦 are arbitrary adoption to 慕何 or 魔訶羅, which might have taken
place before 15 century. Horse and deer have nothing to do with what 馬鹿 really
means
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answer