磨

Mandarin · pinyin mó#

Meanings · mó

  1. to rub
  2. to grind
  3. to polish
  4. to sharpen
  5. to wear down
  6. to die out
  7. to waste time
  8. to pester
  9. to insist
Mandarin · pinyin mò#

Meanings · mò

  1. grindstone
  2. to grind
  3. to turn round
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Characters in this entry

磨
mó · grind; polish; rub; wear out; a millstone
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

2 · mo2

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1character link33same-tone records
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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

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Compare dictionary sources Rime · Wiktionary

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

mo4 · mo6

Cantonese word readings for 磨. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

character · Etymology 1

  1. to grind; to sharpen
  2. to rub; to chafe
  3. to wear away; to obliterate
  4. to wear out; to wear down; to erode
  5. to dawdle; to waste (time)
  6. to pester; to plague (someone)

character · Etymology 2

  1. grinder; mill
  2. to grind; to mill
  3. to turn around
  4. (Cantonese) to waste time

character · Etymology 3

  1. (Teochew) to approach

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

磨 · mo2 · mo4
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source lines 80,159, 80,160
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source records磨 磨 [mo2] /to rub/to grind/to polish/to sharpen/to wear down/to die out/to waste time/to pester/to insist/磨 磨 [mo4] /grindstone/to grind/to turn round/