ENESFRDE中文

Characters, words, pinyin or English

麻 má hemp

hemp; sesame; numb

How to remember 麻: 广 broad + 林 a wood = hemp. The hikers look for cover under a broad roof at the edge of a wood and end up sleeping on sacks of hemp.

  • 1,108. most frequent character
  • HSK 4
  • 11 strokes
  • Radical 麻

Component breakdown

麻 = 广 broad + 林 a wood

  • 广 broad
  • 林 a wood
    • 木 tree
    • 木 tree
The Gushi story

The hikers look for cover under a broad roof at the edge of a wood and end up sleeping on sacks of hemp.

How it came to be

A lean-to roof, with two bundles of stripped stalks hanging under it. Hemp was soaked and dried under cover before the fibre came away. The character is the drying shed.

How it is used

  • Literally hemp/sesame, but the everyday sense is 'numb/tingling' and 'troublesome' - 麻烦 (máfan) trouble/bothersome, 麻辣 (málà) numbingly spicy, 手麻了 (shǒu má le) my hand went numb.
  • 芝麻 (zhīma) sesame; 麻将 (májiàng) mahjong.
  • 麻辣 is the signature Sichuan flavor: 麻 is the tongue-numbing part, 辣 the hot-spicy part.

Characters built with 麻

Words with 麻

Example sentences

  • 这件事有点麻烦。 Zhè jiàn shì yǒudiǎn máfan.This is a little troublesome.
  • 出国旅行护照丢了会很麻烦。 Chūguó lǚxíng hùzhào diūle huì hěn máfan.It can be very troublesome if you lose your passport when traveling overseas.