麻痺
まひ · mahi · JLPT N1 · noun
paralysis
🦽 麻 (numb, as in 麻酔 anesthesia) + 痺 (numbness) = paralysis
Both characters name numbness: 麻 is the numbing of anesthesia, and 痺 is the tingling dead feeling. Stacked together, they mean loss of feeling and movement.
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.