麻 means “hemp, linen, numb”

あさ · asa

Also: flax

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

あさ

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

マ, マア

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 11 strokes

The story

Stalks (林) hung under a shed roof (广): picture hemp drying before it is stripped for fiber. 麻 is hemp or linen, the cool summer cloth, and it also means numb, as in 麻酔, anesthesia; 麻雀 is mahjong.

Used in 麻 (asa, hemp/linen), 麻酔 (masui, anesthesia), and 麻薬 (mayaku, narcotics)

More from Silk & Sleeves

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• 縫 sew
• 裸 naked
• 扇 fan
• 羅 net
• 紡 spin (thread)
• 絹 silk
• 袖 sleeve
• 襟 collar
• 蚕 silkworm

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Readings from KANJIDIC2, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA.