Lesson 7 Flashcards
little
[110]
小
Here “little” means small or tiny. The image is one of three little drops, the first of which (the one in the middle) is written larger so that the kanji has some shape to it. The point of writing it three times is to pub the point in: little, little, nothing but little.
*three drops of something
*P: little
few
[111]
少
The drop at the bottom is extended because a single, isolated drop will never appear beneath its relative primitive in its normal size, for fear it would drop off and get lost. Let the tiny drop indicate a further belitling of what is already “little” - thus making it a few of something little.
*little, a drop of something
large
[112]
大
A pictograph of a large sumo wrestler in a ready stance.
*P: large dog, St. Bernard
many
[113]
多
“Many moons ago” aka Once Upon a Time. The moons are lacking their final strokes because they are partially hidden behind the clouds of time.
*moons
evening
[114]
夕
Just as the word evening adds a touch of formality or romanticism to the ordinary word “night,” so the kanji for evening takes the ordinary looking moon in the night sky and has a cloud pass over it (as in the previous character).
*P: evening
eventide
[115]
汐
*Drops of water inching their way up the shore in the evening (the tide coming up). It is called “eventide”.
*drops of water, evening
outside
[116]
外
Every magician worth his abracadabra knows, bringing your magic wand out into the evening air makes your magic much more powerful than if you were to stay indoors. Hence, evening and magic wand takes you naturally outside;
*evening, magic wand
name
[117]
名
A father in an African tribe sneaking into the tent of his newborn and whispering the name he has chosen for them in their ear, so at evening time, a mouth pronounces a name.
*evening, mouth
P: cliff
厂
stone
[118]
石
With a mouth under a cliff, what else could we have here but the entrance to a secret cavern, before which a great stone has been rolled so that none may enter.
This is the only time that the second stroke in cliff will reach over to the middle of the horizontal stroke.
*cliff, stone
*P: stone
resemblance
[119]
肖
The word resemblance should suggest, among other things, a son’s resemblance to his father. A “chip off the old block” is the way we often put it, but the character is more simple. It speaks of a little bit of flesh. “He has a little of his father’s body in him. I can see the resemblance.”
*a little, flesh
*P: spark/ candle
(Pictograph of the body of a candle with a little spark of light on top.)
nitrate
[120]
硝
Nitrate suggests nitric acid, which can eat its way through some pretty tough substances. Here we imagine pouring it over a rock and watching the sparks fly as it bores a hole through the rock.
*stone, spark/candle
smash
[121]
砕
The needle bat was very spiky. The needles on it helped smash the rock into tiny pieces.
*stone, baseball, needle
sand
[122]
砂
Good sand for beaches has few or no stones in it.
*stone, a few
jealous
[123]
妬
The woman was jealous of the beautiful stone on the other woman’s wedding ring. She wanted one of her own.
*woman, stone
