"Mǎmǎhūhū" literally translates to "horse horse tiger tiger." According to an old Chinese story, a Song dynasty painter created an animal that looked neither like a horse nor a tiger. He told one son it was a tiger and the other that it was a horse. Later, the elder son mistook a horse for a tiger and shot it, while the younger son mistook a tiger for a horse and was attacked. The regretful painter burned the painting. Mǎmǎhūhū came to describe something careless, imprecise or unclear.

相传宋代有位画家，画了一只似马非马、似虎非虎的动物。大儿子问他画的是什么，他说是老虎；小儿子问，他又说是马。后来，大儿子遇见马，以为是老虎而将它射死；小儿子遇见老虎，却把它当成马，结果被老虎咬伤。画家十分后悔，便把那幅画烧掉了。“马马虎虎”由此用来形容做事草率、不认真，或对事物含混不清、缺乏准确判断。