麻 (má): hemp, numb

麻 (má) is a Chinese character meaning “hemp, numb.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 广 (structural) and 林 (structural). It ranks #1107 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 麻 hemp plants 林 growing in a greenhouse 广. Its radical form 广 (shelter) appears in many related characters such as 床 (chuáng, bed), 店 (diàn, shop), 广 (guǎng, wide, broad).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. hemp, numb

Etymology & Origin

麻

ideographicHemp plants 林 growing in a greenhouse 广

Decomposition: ⿸广林 (layout: surround-from-upper-left)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

Practice writing 麻 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 麻

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
麻烦adjective/verb/nounmá fantrouble4

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
大麻noundà máhemp (Cannabis sativa)
惹麻烦verbrě má fanto create difficulties
麻醉verbmá zuìanesthesia
找麻烦zhǎo má fanto look for trouble
添麻烦verbtiān má fanto cause trouble for sb
麻痹verbmá bìparalysis
麻醉剂nounmá zuì jìan anesthetic
麻木adjectivemá mùnumb
芝麻nounzhī masesame (seed)
自找麻烦zì zhǎo má fanto ask for trouble
麻醉药nounmá zuì yàoanesthetic
麻疹nounmá zhěnmeasles
麻雀nounmá quèsparrow
麻药nounmá yàoanesthetic
麻利adjectivemá liswift
102
Total compounds
52
As first character
28
As last character
20
As middle character

麻 appears in 102 compound words: 52 as the first character, 28 as the last, and 20 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 麻 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

烦fán
0.6843,891 co-occurrences
痹bì
0.6131,386 co-occurrences
醉zuì
0.5977,110 co-occurrences
疹zhěn
0.56613 co-occurrences
株zhū
0.55515 co-occurrences
雀què
0.5476,456 co-occurrences
豆dòu
0.5334,134 co-occurrences
辣là
0.5332,392 co-occurrences
衣yī
0.4975,986 co-occurrences
芝zhī
0.4953,642 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (14)

德国麻疹dé guó má zhěn

German measles; rubella

phrase
黑冠麻鹭hēi guān má lù

(bird species of China) Malayan night heron (Gorsachius melanolophus)

phrase
麻痹大意mábìdàyìHSK 7+

to lower one's guard; to be careless and unconcerned

phrase
麻木不仁má mù bù rénHSK 7+

numbed; insensitive; apathetic

phrase
麻婆豆腐mápó dòufuHSK 5+

mapo doufu, a Sichuan dish made of stir-fried beancurd in chili sauce

noun
麻醉药品má zuì yào pǐnHSK 5+

narcotic

phrase
密密麻麻mì mi má máHSK 4+

numerous and close together; densely packed; thickly dotted

phrase
脑性麻痹nǎo xìng má bìHSK 7+

cerebral palsy; spasticity

phrase
披麻带孝pī má dài xiàoHSK 7+

variant of 披麻戴孝

phrase
披麻戴孝pīmádàixiàoHSK 7+

to be dressed in mourning apparel

phrase
震颤麻痹zhèn chàn má bìHSK 7+

palsy; trembling paralysis; used for Parkinson's disease 帕金森病

phrase
芝麻绿豆zhīma lǜdòuHSK 7+

not worth mentioning; of little significance

adjective

Showing 12 of 14 idioms containing 麻.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

麻布衣服穿起来很透气,适合夏天穿着。

Mábù yīfu chuān qǐlái hěn tòuqì, shìhé xiàtiān chuānzhuó.

Hemp clothes are very breathable and suitable for summer wear.

Nownews今日新聞Feb 2026

林柏宏春节变散财童子!打麻将天天输钱 想野生捕捉快冲台大校园

lín bǎi hóng chūn jié biàn sàn cái tóng zǐ ! dǎ má jiāng tiān tiān shū qián xiǎng yě shēng bǔ zhuō kuài chōng tái dà jiào yuán

Lin Baihong became a boy with money during the Spring Festival! Playing mahjong and losing money every day, I want to catch it wild and rush to the campus of National Taiwan University

Am730Feb 2026

油麻地校巴与Tesla相撞 10岁学童和女乘...

yóu má dì jiào bā yǔ T e s l a xiāng zhuàng 1 0 suì xué tóng hé nǚ chéng . . .

Yau Ma Tei school bus collided with Tesla 10-year-old schoolchild and female passenger...

LtnFeb 2026

獨家》警破竹苗大麻農場 車行、廢棄大樓扣870株新鮮大麻

獨 jiā jǐng pò zhú miáo dà má 農 場 車 háng 廢 棄 dà 樓 kòu zhū xīn 鮮 dà má

[Translation pending - quota exceeded]

Investing 香港Feb 2026

...25年第四季業績簡報:生命科學佈局助力大麻房地產投資信託多元化

. . . nián dì sì jì 業 績 簡 報 shēng mìng kē 學 佈 jú zhù lì dà má fáng dì 產 tóu 資 xìn 託 duō yuán huà

[Translation pending - API quota exceeded]

Nownews今日新聞Feb 2026

...人大鬧日本旅店!高砂屋暖回:不會把台人當麻煩製造者

. . . rén dà 鬧 rì běn lǚ diàn ! gāo shā wū nuǎn huí bù 會 bǎ tái rén 當 má 煩 製 zào zhě

...A group of people caused a major disturbance at a Japanese inn! Takasago Inn responded warmly: "We won't treat Taiwanese as troublemakers."

Tatoeba

汤姆是不是麻烦事很多?

Tāngmǔ shìbùshì máfan shì hěn duō?

Is Tom in a lot of trouble?

Tatoeba

麻烦了,请给我一把汤勺好吗?

Máfan le, qǐng gěi wǒ yī bǎ tāng sháo hǎo ma?

Excuse me, may I have a spoon?

Tatoeba

可以麻烦你把窗关了吗?

Kěyǐ máfan nǐ bǎ chuāng guān le ma?

May I trouble you to shut the window?

Tatoeba

什么痛苦能让你想用酒精去麻醉自己?

Shénme tòngkǔ néng ràng nǐ xiǎng yòng jiǔjīng qù mázuì zìjǐ?

What pain are you trying to cover up with alcohol?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced má

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 麻 (má) mean in Chinese?
麻 (má) primarily means "hemp, numb." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #1107 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 麻 have?
麻 is written with 11 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 麻?
The radical associated with 麻 is 广 (shelter). This radical appears in many characters related to shelter.
What are the components of 麻?
麻 is composed of: 广 (structural), 林 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿸广林 with a surround-from-upper-left layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 麻?
Common words with 麻 include: 麻烦 (má fan, "trouble"); 大麻 (dà má, "hemp (Cannabis sativa)"); 惹麻烦 (rě má fan, "to create difficulties"); 麻醉 (má zuì, "anesthesia"); 找麻烦 (zhǎo má fan, "to look for trouble"). There are over 102 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 麻 (má)?
Several characters share the pronunciation má: 马 (horse), 吗 (question particle), 妈 (mother), 码 (code, yard), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 麻 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 麻 and the traditional form is 蔴.

Practice writing 麻 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.