摩

mó
verb #4,020

Meanings

  1. 1 to rub
  2. 2 to grind
  3. 3 to touch

Examples

HSK 5
Liǎng gè biǎomiàn zhījiān de mócā chǎnshēng le rèliàng.
Friction between the two surfaces produced heat.
HSK 6
Ànmó kěyǐ hěn hǎo de huǎnjiě píláo.
Getting a massage really helps relieve fatigue.

Tips

memory
麻 (hemp) over 手 (hand): picture rubbing rough hemp fibers between your hands, which is exactly what 摩 means, to rub.
register
Almost everything uses the mó reading, including 按摩 (massage) and 摩托车 (motorcycle). One literary word, 摩挲 (to stroke gently), takes a first-tone mā instead.

Components

radical
手 shǒu
hand
Bottom hand radical in its full standalone form, the indexing radical of 摩. Carries the literal meaning: 摩 is rubbing, stroking, massaging, all hand actions. The same radical in its 扌 side-form heads most other rubbing and touching verbs (拿, 推, 抓); the full 手 here puts emphasis on the hand itself doing the work.
phonetic
麻 má
hemp
Top-and-left wrapping 麻 supplies the sound (má to mó, a regular vowel shift in the same labial-nasal family). 麻 itself shows 广 (shelter) over hemp stalks being processed in a workshop. It carries a faint semantic echo of friction: hemp fibres have to be rubbed and twisted between the hands to make rope. Same phonetic in 磨 (grind), 蘑 (mushroom), 嘛 (modal particle).

Stroke Order

摩 mó