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

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.

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.

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.