磨 (mó): to rub; to grind; to polish; to…

Meanings

1 to rub; to grind; to polish; to sharpen
2 to wear down; to erode; to die out (over time)
3 to dawdle; to waste time
4 to pester; to nag

Characters

磨

mó

to grind; to polish; to wear down

Examples

HSK 2

别磨了，快点走吧!

Bié mó le, kuàidiǎn zǒu ba!

Stop dawdling, let's go!

HSK 3

他在磨刀。

Tā zài mó dāo.

He is sharpening a knife.

HSK 3

时间磨平了伤痛。

Shíjiān mó píng le shāngtòng.

Time has worn away the pain.

HSK 5

磨练意志需要时间。

Móliàn yìzhì xūyào shíjiān.

Tempering one's willpower takes time.

Tips

usage

Default reading mó covers all the verb senses: physical grinding (磨刀 sharpen a blade), figurative wearing-down (磨练 temper, 折磨 torment), and the colloquial 'dawdle / pester' sense (磨蹭). Distinguished from its homophone 摩 (hand-radical, 'rub') by the stone radical: 磨 is grinding ON a stone.

culture

铁杵磨成针 - 'grind an iron pestle into a needle.' A famous idiom about perseverance, attributed to a story about the young 李白: as a boy, he met an old woman patiently grinding an iron rod down to a sewing needle, and the lesson convinced him to study seriously.

Components

radical

石 shí

stone

Bottom 石 - the indexing radical (Kangxi #112). Grinding requires stone: millstones, whetstones, mortars. The stone radical specifies that this 'wearing-down' action is abrasion against rock, distinguishing 磨 from its homophone 摩 (rub with hand, hand radical). Same 石 family: 砖 (brick), 碎 (shatter), 硬 (hard).

phonetic

麻 má

hemp

Top-outer 麻 supplies the sound - má → mó with only a vowel shift. 麻 itself shows 广 (shelter) over hemp fibres being processed; the fibres were beaten and rubbed against stone or wood to soften them, faintly evoking the grinding action. Same má/mó phonetic family: 蘑 (mushroom), 摩 (rub), 魔 (demon).