麻酔
ますい · masui · JLPT N1 · noun
anesthesia
💉 麻 = numb + 酔 = drunk: anesthesia numbs you and dulls you like being drunk
麻 means numbness, as in 麻痺 (paralysis). 酔 means intoxication, as in 酔う (to get drunk). Together they describe a drug-induced numbness and loss of awareness.
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.