磨 (mò) · millstone; mill (the apparatus)

Meanings

1 millstone; mill (the apparatus)
2 to grind grain in a mill; to turn the millstone

Characters

磨

mò

millstone; mill (the apparatus)

Examples

HSK 5

奶奶还用石磨磨豆浆。

Nǎinai hái yòng shímò mò dòujiāng.

Grandma still uses a stone mill to grind soy milk.

HSK 6

院子里一头老驴在推磨。

Yuànzi lǐ yī tóu lǎo lǘ zài tuī mò.

An old donkey was turning the mill in the courtyard.

HSK 7-9

村口以前有一座磨坊。

Cūnkǒu yǐqián yǒu yī zuò mòfáng.

There used to be a flour mill at the edge of the village.

Tips

usage

The mò reading is the mill-apparatus word - refers to the physical millstone or the act of grinding grain in a mill. Key compounds: 石磨 (stone mill), 磨坊 (flour mill), 推磨 (push / turn the millstone), 水磨 (water mill), 磨豆机 (bean/coffee grinder). The bound colloquialism 磨叽 (to dilly-dally, northern dialect) also uses mò.

memory

Easy rule: if the word names a thing (a mill, a millstone) or the act of running such a thing, it's mò. If it names an action of rubbing, polishing, sharpening, or wearing-down, it's mó. So 磨刀 (sharpen a knife - action) but 石磨 (stone mill - thing).

Components

radical

石 shí

stone

Same stone radical, even more directly invoked here: a 磨 is literally a stone wheel or pair of round stones used to crush grain. The radical names the object as well as the action.

phonetic

麻 má

hemp

Same phonetic 麻 as in the mó reading. The tone-only shift from mó (action) to mò (thing / apparatus) is a common word-class derivation in Mandarin - verbs going to fourth tone for the noun form.