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I used to dread my kanji reviews and until now memorising the different on’yomi and kun’yomi tends to fry my brain. But today I learned the kanji for “forget” or “wasure”. It combines two kanji – “deceased” and “heart”. So, to forget is to let something die in your heart. T-T
A funny one is the kanji for “work/job”. It combines “serve” and “abstract thing”. 仕事
I like seeing pictures in the kanji now as a way to remember what they mean. The pronunciations still kill me, but meh, I’ll deal :P
Well, it’s “abstract thing” as opposed to “concrete thing”, not abstract in the sense of giraffes and melting clocks.
One that amuses me a little is 怒る = おこる = to get angry. It’s composed of a woman (女) plus a heart (心) plus “again” (又, though that’s not really a kanji you’ll often find on its own), which quite readily lends itself to a(n albeit slightly stereotyped) mnemonic: “Yeesh, that woman is getting angry over matters of the heart again?”
As an added bonus, the components also hint at the reading: おんな + こころ + ～る = おこる
I like how the kanji for “blindness” (盲) is made from “dead” and “eye”, it’s just so logical :D However, the word 盲 (めくら) is actually a pejorative term, so people don’t use it much any more apparently; 盲人 (もうじん) seems to be more common.
Also, I like the kanji for the word “aeroplane” – 飛行機 is “fly + go + machine” :D
One that amuses me is 仙, can be either hermit or wizard. Broken down by radicals 人 and 山, a person in the mountains. I imagine a crazy robed man standing on the mountain pass, hurling bolts of lightning (wizard), and if you approach and ask him his name he says “There are some who would call me…Tim?”
Yeah, that’s another good one :D
On a similar note, 休 = break or holiday = a person sitting under a tree. What else would you do with some time off? =P
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