‘Má zuì’ literally combines ‘má’ (numbness, tingling) and ‘zuì’ (intoxication, stupor), reflecting the dual effect of anesthesia: loss of sensation and reduced consciousness. As a noun, it refers to the medical state or procedure of inducing temporary loss of feeling or awareness—commonly used before surgeries or dental procedures. As a verb, it means ‘to anesthetize’ or ‘to administer anesthesia to’ someone.

This term is strictly formal and clinical; you won’t hear it in casual conversation outside hospitals or health-related discussions. It applies to both local anesthesia (e.g., numbing a tooth) and general anesthesia (e.g., full unconsciousness during surgery). The characters themselves are rarely used separately in this sense—‘má’ alone can mean ‘hemp’ or ‘numb’, and ‘zuì’ alone means ‘drunk’ or ‘intoxicated’, but together they form a fixed medical compound with precise technical meaning.