嘛
ma · HSK 6
used to emphasize the obvious
🤷 má sounds like mama coaxing you — come on, its obvious!
Think of a parent nudging you: 'Do it, má!' The particle 嘛 works the same way — it softens a push or flags something as self-evident. 口 (mouth) + 麻 (hemp/numb) = words that smooth things over.
嘛 — mouth 口 + hemp 麻 (phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound: 口 (mouth) signals it's a spoken particle, while 麻 (má, hemp) supplies the sound. Originally a colloquial variant for questioning or emphasis, 嘛 became standard in modern Mandarin as a softening sentence-final particle expressing the obvious or coaxing tone.