麻醉
mázuì · HSK 7
anesthesize
💉😴 麻 numb + 醉 drunk = anesthesia, the drug that leaves you numb and out cold
麻 means numb or hemp, 醉 means drunk or intoxicated. Anesthesia is literally numb-drunk: the doctor makes you numb and knocks you out before surgery. Sounds like MAH-dzway.
麻 — shelter 广 + two 林 (hemp fibers)
Originally a pictograph of hemp fibers (林-like shape) being processed under a shelter (广), depicting the workshop where bast fibers were stripped and dried. The core meaning was 'hemp/cannabis plant,' later extended to 'numb' or 'tingling' from the sensation hemp can cause, and to 'rough' textures like hemp cloth.
醉 — wine vessel 酉 + complete 卒
A semantic-phonetic compound. The left side 酉 depicts a wine jar and gives the meaning 'alcohol,' while 卒 ('to finish, to end') hints at the sound and suggests drinking to completion. Together they convey being thoroughly drunk, and by extension 'intoxicated' or 'enthralled.'