Kanji - Level 10 - Radicals Flashcards
酉
Alcohol
See the west radical on top of the mouth radical? Think of the mouth of someone from the wild west (like in a cowboy movie). What is always in their mouth? It’s alcohol.
豆
Beans
This radical has a pod (the square in the middle) between the ground and some roots. That pod is going to turn into a plant someday. What plant will it be? Great big beans, like the ones from Jack and the Beanstalk.
束
Bundle
This is a tree with something wrapped around its middle, holding it tight. If you unwrapped that middle part you’d realize it’s actually a bunch of trees tied in there. It’s a bundle of trees!
𦰩
Chinese
Why is your husband putting flowers in his mouth? It’s because he’s Chinese. It’s just something they do over there, you explain. Tea is flower water, this isn’t that weird. Chinese people just thought of doing it first.
丙
Dynamite
Doesn’t this radical look like one of those old-fashioned dynamite plunger things that gets pushed to set the fuse? That makes this dynamite!
失
Fault
This radical is the same as the kanji. It means fault.
Just in case you don’t remember this, here’s the kanji meaning mnemonic: That slide is your husband’s only fault. He loves that slide, more than you, and it’s the only thing you don’t like about him.
頁
Geoduck
This radical consists of a shellfish with a leaf on it. What is it? The mysterious geoduck. It’s a very distinct clam-like creature. If you don’t know what a geoduck is, look it up. It’s quite bizarre. It has a long, leaf-shaped protrusion coming out of its shell body.
各
Kiss
When you combine winter and mouth you get… winter mouth! Or at least a mouth that tastes like winter because it’s coming in for a kiss. Before you go kissing people you eat mints, right? It’s common courtesy so you don’t give them a mouth full of bad breath. So when you think of a winter mouth, think of a nice, minty kiss!
辰
Landslide
If you kick a cliff you’ll start a landslide! Oh no!
曲
Music
This radical is the same as the kanji. It means music.
Just in case you don’t remember this, here’s the kanji meaning mnemonic: Twenty mouths are together. That’s a lot of mouths. What do they do? They sing beautiful music together.
売
Sell
This radical is the same as the kanji. It means sell.
Just in case you don’t remember this, here’s the kanji meaning mnemonic: There’s a samurai with (just) his forehead and legs. Everything in between is missing. What happened to everything in between? He was low on money, so he had to sell it all, leaving him with only the top and the bottom.
疒
Sick
This is the canopy radical with ice running down the back. If you hang out in a cold canopy like this you’ll definitely get sick. Imagine being sick and alone inside a cold canopy. Brrrr, oh no… ACHOO!
乃
Stairs
See the stairs shape on the right side? Also note it’s being held up by a pillar or beam or something, to make sure the stairs don’t just collapse as you walk up them.
圣
Tombstone
There is a stool sticking out of the dirt. You walk up and realize it has writing on it. It’s actually a tombstone. You can sit on it and remember the people who are below the dirt now.
隹
Turkey
This looks kind of like the top of the bird radical, but not quite. It’s kind of a dumb-looking bird radical top. What’s a dumb bird, so dumb that it would look into the sky to drown itself with its mouth open? A turkey.
