乱麻

Chinese

For pronunciation and definitions of 乱麻 – see 亂麻 (“tangled skein; tremendous muddle; jumble”). (This term is the simplified form of 亂麻).
Notes: Simplified Chinese is mainly used in Mainland China, Malaysia, and Singapore. Traditional Chinese is mainly used in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.

Alternative spelling
亂麻 (kyūjitai)

Possibly a learned borrowing from Chinese 亂麻／乱麻 (luànmá, “tangled rope; muddle, jumble”). Alternatively, may be a shift from kun'yomi to on'yomi for the term 乱れ麻, 乱れ緒 (midare-o, “tangled cord”), attested in the Man'yōshū and now archaic.

First cited to 1859.^[1]

乱(らん)麻(ま) • (ranma)

[from 1859] (literally) a tangled cord or string
[from 1859] (figuratively) a muddle, a jumble, chaos, a disordered state
快(かい)刀(とう)乱(らん)麻(ま)を断(た)つ
kaitō ranma o tatsu
cut the Gordian knot
(literally, “sever a tangled mess with a sharp sword”)

Alternative spelling
亂麻 (kyūjitai)

Alternative spelling that omits the okurigana, generally only found in older texts.

For pronunciation and definitions of 乱麻 – see the following entry.

(This term, 乱麻, is an alternative spelling of the above term.)

^ “乱麻”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎^[1] (in Japanese), concise edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2006
^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
^ NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN
^ Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1997), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN