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:

Japanese

Etymology 1
Kanji in this term
乱 麻
らん
Grade: 6		 ま
Grade: S
kan’on kan’yōon
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]

Pronunciation

Noun

乱(らん)麻(ま) • (ranma) 

  1. [from 1859] (literally) a tangled cord or string
  2. [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”)

Etymology 2
Kanji in this term
乱 麻
みだ(れ)
Grade: 6		 お
Grade: S
kun’yomi
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.
【乱みだれ麻お】
[noun] (archaic) tangled thread or yarn
(This term, 乱麻, is an alternative spelling of the above term.)

References
  1. “乱麻”, in 日本国語大辞典 (Nihon Kokugo Daijiten, “Nihon Kokugo Daijiten”)‎ (in Japanese), concise edition, Tōkyō: Shogakukan, 2000
  2. Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  3. 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), Tōkyō: NHK Publishing, →ISBN
  4. Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1997), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
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