mnemonics Flashcards
直
zhí
(c. 2000 bc), fifth of the legendary flame emperors 炎帝[yan2 di4] descended from shennong 神農|神农[shen2 nong2] farmer god / straight / to straighten / fair and reasonable / frank / straightforward / (indicates continuing motion or action) / vertical / vertical downward stroke in chinese characters / surname zhi
Mnemonic:
The bookshelf looks VERTICAL.
TEN AND ONE are STRAIGHTFORWARD to remember!
件
Jiàn (dian)
item / component / classifier for events, things, clothes etc
Mnemonic:
The MAN and his COW are quite an ITEM.
班
bān
team / class / squad / work shift / ranking / classifier for groups / surname ban
Mnemonic:
KINGS are DIVIDED to form a TEAM
休
xiū
to rest / to stop doing sth for a period of time / to cease / (imperative) don’t / surname xiu
Mnemonic:
A man leans on a tree to rest!
发
fà
hair / Taiwan pr. [fa3]
fā
to send out / to show (one’s feeling) / to issue / to develop / classifier for gunshots (rounds)
图
tú
diagram / picture / drawing / chart / map / to plan / to scheme / to attempt / to pursue / to seek
视
Shì
to look at / to regard / to inspect
Mnemonic:
I’m looking 见 at a spirit 礻
如
rú
as / as if / such as
Mnemonic:
A woman AS IF a mouth
海
hǎi
ocean / sea / great number of people or things / (dialect) numerous / surname hai
Mnemonic:
Sea(海) is the mother(母) of all the rivers(氵)
春
chūn
spring (time) / gay / joyful / youthful / love / lust / life / surname chun
Mnemonic:
When you see a SUN under a BLOSSOM, SPRING is here!
熟
shú
cooked (of food) / ripe (of fruit) / mature (of seeds) / familiar / skilled / done / also pr. [shou2]
Mnemonic:
Many children plays with the ball and don’t see the dangers (fire) because we need to become more ‘mature’, ‘familiar’ and ‘skilled’ in our world.
节
jié
festival / holiday / node / joint / section / segment / part / to economize / to save / to abridge / moral integrity / classifier for segments, e.g. lessons, train wagons, biblical verses
Mnemonic:
The party is not “festival” yet on the “grass” without party favors!
难
nán
difficult (to…) / problem / difficulty / difficult / not good
Mnemonic:
It’s really DIFFICULT to catch a SHORT TAILED BIRD with a RIGHT HAND.
鱼
yú (yi)
fish / surname yu
认
rèn
to recognize / to know / to admit
Mnemonic:
A “person” tries to RECOGNIZE the character 讠(means speech or speak).
矢
shǐ
arrow / dart / straight / to vow / to swear / old variant of 屎[shi3]
兄
xiōng -
elder brother
趣
qù
interesting / to interest
Mnemonic: I heard (耳 means ear) running (走) is INTERESTING
决
jué -
to decide / to determine / to execute (sb) / (of a dam etc) to breach or burst / definitely / certainly
Mnemonic:
DECIDING to throw jade into a “ice” pond is a bad choice.
牙
yá
tooth / ivory
Mnemonic:
Looks like brushing TEETH
什
shén
what
shí
ten (used in fractions, writing checks etc) / assorted / miscellaneous
Mnemonic:
A PERSON doesn’t know WHAT a cross is
WHAT (什) PERSON (人) is TEN (十) meters tall???
闭
bì
to close / to stop up / to shut / to obstruct
Mnemonic:
闭 looks like a door with nailed wooden planks on the door meaning that the door is closed.
护
hù
to protect
Mnemonic:
A HAND PROTECTING the DOOR
怕
pà
to be afraid / to fear / to dread / to be unable to endure / perhaps / surname pa
Mnemonic:
Looks like his HEART made him all WHITE in FEAR!
元
yuán (yen)
the yuan or mongol dynasty (1279-1368) / unit of money (in prc: chinese yuan, in usa: dollar, etc) / primary / first / surname yuan
Mnemonic:
Looks like a table with MONEY on top
“If you have TWO SONS you have to pay MONEY to the government in China.”
卡
Kǎ - to stop / to block / card / calorie / cassette / (computing) (coll.) slow
Qiǎ - to block / to be stuck / to be wedged / customs station / a clip / a fastener / a checkpost / Taiwan pr. [ka3]
贵
guì
expensive / noble / your (name) / precious
Mnemonic:
The ONE in the MIDDLE of the SHELL is the most EXPENSIVE
厶
sī
old variant of 私[si1] means private
Mnemonic:
厶 looks like a diary book. Because diaries are suppose to be PRIVATE.
然
rán
correct / right / so / thus / like this / -ly
Mnemonic:
It’s not CORRECT to drop a “person” (犬 means dog) into the “fire” because your cooking the person’s “flesh”.
便
biàn - ordinary / plain / convenient / as convenient / when the chance arises / handy / easy / informal / simple / so / thus / to relieve oneself / to urinate / to defecate / equivalent to 就[jiu4]: then / in that case / even if / soon afterwards
pián - advantageous / cheap
Mnemonic:
A “PERSON” stares “MORE” and “MORE” at this PLAIN object. (The object is 更)
球
qiú
ball / sphere / globe / ball game / match
Mnemonic:
This character looks like a “king” with his jade BALL.
魔
mó
devil / magic
Mnemonic:
If you go to your garden house full of “hemp” at night, an EVIL SPIRIT (its a ghost) will jump at you.
麻
má
generic name for hemp, flax etc / hemp or flax fiber for textile materials / sesame / (of materials) rough or coarse / pocked / pitted / to have pins and needles or tingling / to feel numb / surname ma
This character looks like hemp under a garden house.
The original meaning of 麻: people get textile raw material from stalk（林）in the workshop （厂）
If you smoke hemp, you’ll feel “numb” …
大
dà - big / huge / large / major / great / wide / deep / older (than) / oldest / eldest / greatly / very much / (dialect) father / father’s elder or younger brother
dài - see 大夫[dai4 fu5]
妇
fù
woman
Mnemonic:
WOMAN are pure and lovely white like SNOW
热
rè
to warm up / to heat up / hot (of weather) / heat / fervent
Mnemonic:
He tries to make fire with his hands to warm up himself. And he has a ball as a friend.
教
jiāo - to teach
jiào - religion / teaching / to make / to cause / to tell / surname jiao
Mnemonic:
The OLD man KNOCKS the CHILD to TEACH him
㔾
jié
seal
Mnemonic:
For the variant of 㔾, it looks like a seal stamp.
It is a uncommon character now, but commonly used as radicals of other characters, like 即.
食
shí - to eat / food / animal feed / eclipse
sì - to feed
音
yīn
sound / noise / note (of musical scale) / tone / news / syllable / reading (phonetic value of a character)
Mnemonic: A person (立 formally means stand) sings into a microphone to make sound to the speaker (日 formally means sun,day).
同
tóng
like / same / similar / together / alike / with
Mnemonic:
If you cut this character in half, the halves look SIMILAR.
乙
yǐ
second of the ten Heavenly Stems 十天干[shi2 tian1 gan1] / second in order / letter “B” or roman “II” in list “A, B, C”, or “I, II, III” etc / second party (in legal contract, usually 乙方[yi3 fang1], as opposed to 甲方[jia3 fang1]) / ethyl / bent / winding / radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 5)
Mnemonic:
乙 looks like an upside-down number 2. Or a number 2 in general.
甲、乙、丙、丁、戊、己、庚、辛、壬、癸
jiǎ, yǐ, bǐng, dīng, wù, jǐ, gēng, xīn, rén, guǐ
first, second, third, forth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eigth, nineth, tenth
目
mù
eye / item / section / list / catalogue / table of contents / order (taxonomy) / goal / name / title
相
xiāng - each other / one another / mutually / surname xiang
xiàng - appearance / portrait / picture / government minister / (physics) phase
Mnemonic:
An EYE and a TREE looking at EACH OTHER
禾
hé
cereal/grain
央
yāng
center / end / to beg / to plead
现
xiàn
to appear / present / now / existing / current
Mnemonic:
The KING wants to SEE you, NOW!
始
shǐ
to begin / to start / then / only then
Mnemonic:
A WOMAN has to clean the “vase” (formally means private) before we BEGIN EAT
化
huà
to make into / to change into / -ization / to … -ize / to transform / abbr. for 化學|化学[hua4 xue2]
Mnemonic:
2 PERSON CHANGING position
化 is made up of two persons, one is standing, which means living, the other is stand upside-down in the earth, which means death. So the character is describe the changes from living to death.
肉
ròu
meat / flesh / pulp (of a fruit) / (coll.) (of a fruit) squashy / (of a person) flabby / irresolute
气
qì
gas / air / smell / weather / to make angry / to annoy / to get angry / vital energy / qi
风
fēng
wind / news / style / custom / manner
The original meaning of 风 is “the air which can help bird fly”.
间
jiān
between / among / within a definite time or space / room / section of a room or lateral space between two pairs of pillars / classifier for rooms
jiàn - gap / to separate / to thin out (seedlings) / to sow discontent
Mnemonic:
The SUN will rise in BETWEEN of the GATE.
云
yún
abbr. for yunnan province 雲南省|云南省[yun2 nan2 sheng3] / cloud / surname yun
会
Huì
can / to be possible / to be able to / will / to be likely to / to be sure to / to assemble / to meet / to gather / to see / union / group / association / a moment (Taiwan pr. for this sense is [hui3])
Kuài - to balance an account / accountancy / accounting
A PERSON who CAN ride in the CLOUD
