Why is the kanji of idiot written with the kanji for "horse" and "deer" together?


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?




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.




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.

