(): to grind, to wear

() is a Chinese character meaning “to grind, to wear.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (phonetic) and (semantic). It ranks #1527 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, stone. Its radical form (stone) appears in many related characters such as (què, certain, true), (wǎn, bowl), (pèng, to touch, to bump).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to grind, to wear

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticstone

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

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
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14
15
16

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
zhé móto torment
zhuó móto carve and polish (jade)
mó cengto rub lightly
xiāo móto wear down
mó sǔnto suffer wear and tear
mó nàna torment
mò fángmill
mó liànto temper oneself
dǎ móto polish
mó yáto grind one's teeth (during sleep)
mó héto break in
mó mièto obliterate
yán mómilling
mó chuánggrinding machine
bù kě mó mièindelible
99
Total compounds
58
As first character
23
As last character
19
As middle character

appears in 99 compound words: 58 as the first character, 23 as the last, and 19 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

zhuó
0.6534,230 co-occurrences
zhé
0.64124,390 co-occurrences
sǔn
0.56110,560 co-occurrences
fāng
0.5429,018 co-occurrences
cèng
0.533372 co-occurrences
0.5122,976 co-occurrences
hān
0.492666 co-occurrences
nài
0.4792,838 co-occurrences
shā
0.4662,688 co-occurrences
shí
0.4641,116 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (12)

bùkěmómièHSK 7+

indelible

phrase
hǎoshìduōmóHSK 7+

the road to happiness is strewn with setbacks

phrase
línzhènmóqiāngHSK 7+

to prepare at the last moment

phrase
mó dāo huò huòHSK 7+

lit. to sharpen one's sword (idiom); fig. to prepare to attack; to be getting ready for battle

phrase
mó quán cā zhǎngHSK 7+

variant of 摩拳擦掌[mo1 quan2 ca1 zhang3]

phrase
móshā bōliHSK 7+

frosted glass

noun
ruǎnmóyìngpàoHSK 7+

to coax and pester unceasingly; to tiresomely pursue something

phrase
mó chǔ chéng zhēnHSK 7+

to grind an iron bar down to a fine needle (idiom); fig. to persevere in a difficult task; to study diligently

phrase
穿móchuāntiěyànHSK 7+

to show extreme diligence in one's studies

phrase
xièmòshālǘHSK 7+

to get rid of somebody, or something, or both, upon ceasing to be useful

phrase
ěrbìnsīmóHSK 7+

to have a close childhood relationship; (of a couple) very intimate; deeply in love

phrase

Showing 11 of 12 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这双鞋需要合一段时间,新鞋刚开始穿会有些不舒服。

Zhè shuāng xié xūyào móhé yí duàn shíjiān, xīn xié gāng kāishǐ chuān huì yǒuxiē bù shūfu.

These shoes need a break-in period; new shoes can be somewhat uncomfortable at first.

Hk01.comFeb 2026

养猫必看!4招轻松解决猫咪爪坏习惯 让你的沙发不再伤痕累累

yǎng māo bì kàn ! 4 zhāo qīng sōng jiě jué māo 咪 mó zhǎo huài xí guàn ràng nǐ de shā fā bù zài shāng hén lěi lěi

A must-see for raising cats! 4 ways to easily solve the bad habit of grinding cats so that your sofa is no longer scarred

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

20年一剑 国家档案馆爆红成北部地标景点

2 0 nián mó yī jiàn guó jiā dàng àn guǎn bào hóng chéng běi bù dì biāo jǐng diǎn

In 20 years, the National Archives has become a landmark attraction in the north

StheadlineFeb 2026

港鐵荃灣綫新信號系統3.15啟用 料「合期」會現車門未對準幕門等小問題

gǎng 鐵 荃 灣 綫 xīn xìn 號 xì 統 . 啟 yòng liào mó gě qī 會 現 車 門 wèi 對 準 mù 門 děng xiǎo 問 題

MTR Tsuen Wan Line's New Signaling System to Launch on March 15; Minor Issues Like Misaligned Train Doors Expected During "Break-in Period"

Hk01.comFeb 2026

...鐵荃灣綫3.15起啟用新信號系統 料有「合期」或影響服務

. . . 鐵 荃 灣 綫 . qǐ 啟 yòng xīn xìn 號 xì 統 liào yǒu mó gě qī huò yǐng 響 fú 務

The Tseung Kwan O Line will implement a new signaling system starting March 15. An adjustment period is expected, which may affect service.

Hk01.comFeb 2026

...陳麗君背景起底 茶農出身家境清貧越劇出道練10年

. . . 陳 麗 jūn bèi jǐng qǐ de chá 農 chū shēn jiā jìng qīng 貧 yuè 劇 chū dào mó 練 nián

... Chen Lijun's background is doxxing, tea farmer was born in a poor family, and has been honing for 10 years since her debut in Yue opera

Tatoeba

我在街上散步,消时间。

Wǒ zài jiēshang sànbù, xiāomóshíjiān.

I strolled along the streets to kill time.

Tatoeba

我父亲以前是坊主。

Wǒ fùqīn yǐqián shì mòfángzhǔ.

My dad used to be a miller.

Tatoeba

再折他也没用,他不会招供的。

Zài zhémó tā yě méiyòng, tā bù huì zhāogòng de.

There's no point torturing him anymore, he won't confess.

Tatoeba

要不是他这么蹭蹭,现在早做完了。

Yàobushì tā zhème mómócèngcèng, xiànzài zǎo zuòwán le.

If he hadn't wasted time, he'd be finished by now.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 磨 (mó) mean in Chinese?
磨 (mó) primarily means "to grind, to wear." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #1527 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 磨 and 嘛?
磨 (mó) and 嘛 (ma) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 石 vs 口 (same 麻 component).
How many strokes does 磨 have?
磨 is written with 16 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 磨?
The radical associated with 磨 is 石 (stone). This radical appears in many characters related to stone.
What are the components of 磨?
磨 is composed of: 麻 (phonetic), 石 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿸麻石 with a surround-from-upper-left layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 磨?
Common words with 磨 include: 折磨 (zhé mó, "to torment"); 琢磨 (zhuó mó, "to carve and polish (jade)"); 磨蹭 (mó ceng, "to rub lightly"); 消磨 (xiāo mó, "to wear down"); 磨损 (mó sǔn, "to suffer wear and tear"). There are over 99 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 磨 (mó)?
Several characters share the pronunciation mó: 摩 (to rub), 魔 ((bound form) evil spirit), 摸 (to feel with the hand), 模 (to imitate), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 磨 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 磨 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native 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.