Mandarin Banana

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儿

Socrates (s-) is doing some workout in the bathroom of the space station (-4). He's lifting four (四) wooden boxes (囗), and wonders why they are so heavy (okay I know it's in outer space and everything, but anyway). He doesn't know that inside one of the four boxes, the monkey king (儿) is hiding and secretly laughing at him - until the monkey king comes out and surprises Socrates with a four-leaved clover (symbol for 四).

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Going on with counting: four

You should recognize the following in this picture: The boxes represent 囗, Sun Wukong represents 儿 ("son"), Socrates tells you that the pronunciation begins with "s" and the bathroom of the space station tells you that the fourth tone is used plus there's no final. Okay okay maybe the last piece of information is not that clear yet. Feel free to head over to the Gorodishes section to read more about the pronunciation encoding.

Now there are four boxes, and that's how the character's information itself is revealed: 四 (Sun Wukong in four boxes) means "four".

Upcoming next: A new character component, 丨, which will be useful to construct the character for "five".

四

si4 =
s + Ø4

four / 4 | add a mnemonic for this meaning of 四

Socrates (s-) is doing some workout in the bathroom of the space station (-4). He's lifting four (四) wooden boxes (囗), and wonders why they are so heavy (okay I know it's in outer space and everything, but anyway). He doesn't know that inside one of the four boxes, the monkey king (儿) is hiding and secretly laughing at him - until the monkey king comes out and surprises Socrates with a four-leaved clover (symbol for 四). - Mnemonic by Matthias, almost 5 years ago | add a painting

Image by Matthias,
over 4 years ago

四
=
儿
+
囗

儿

er2 =
Ø + Ø2

son | add a mnemonic for this meaning of 儿

"Son" (儿) sounds similar to "Sun" like in "Sun Wu Kong", so it's gonna be represented by the monkey king. Albert Einstein (Ø-) and Sun Wu Kong are fighting in the space station's entrance (-Ø2). Their weapons: Albert has a shovel (乚), and Sun Wu Kong has a banana (丿). - Mnemonic by Matthias, almost 5 years ago | add a painting

Image by Matthias,
over 4 years ago

r5

non-syllabic diminutive suffix / retroflex final | add a mnemonic for this meaning of 儿

儿
=
丿
+
乚

丿

pie3 =
pi + e3

radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 4) / see 撇[pie3] | add a mnemonic for this meaning of 丿

Pocahontas (pi-) is watching a giant banana (丿) inside the Erectheion (-e3). - Mnemonic by Matthias, almost 5 years ago | add a painting

Image by Matthias,
over 4 years ago

儿
=
丿
+
乚

乚

ya4 =
y + a4

component in Chinese characters / archaic variant of 毫[hao2] / archaic variant of 乙[yi3] | add a mnemonic for this meaning of 乚

This character shall be represented by a shovel (乚). Remember it by imagining Maud Younger (y) shovelling a grave in the Adziogol Lighthouse's bathroom (a4). - Mnemonic by Matthias, almost 5 years ago | add a painting

Image by Matthias,
over 4 years ago

四
=
儿
+
囗

囗

wei2 =
w + ei2

enclosure | add a mnemonic for this meaning of 囗

Finally, Willy Walrus (wu-) is just inside the entrance of the Eiffel Tower (-ei2). He smuggled himself in sitting in a large wooden box (囗). - Mnemonic by Matthias, almost 5 years ago | add a painting

Image by Matthias,
over 4 years ago

四 appears as component in

泗驷呬柶駟

四 has no simplified variant.

HSK level: 1

Pronunciation: Gorodish elements and their mnemonics (what's this?)

s	Socrates. - Mnemonic by Matthias, over 4 years ago \| add a painting Image by Matthias, over 4 years ago
Ø4	"Ø4" is happening in the bathroom of the space station. - Mnemonic by Matthias, almost 5 years ago \| add a painting Image by Matthias, over 4 years ago

Words with 四

四 si4 肢 zhi1		the four limbs of the body (HSK level 6)
丢 diu1 三 san1 落 la4 四 si4		forgetful / empty-headed (HSK level 6)
四 si4 大 da4		the four elements: earth, water, fire, and wind (Buddhism) / the four freedoms: speaking out freely, airing views fully, holding great debates, and writing big-character posters, 大鳴大放\|大鸣大放[da4 ming2 da4 fang4], 大辯論\|大辩论[da4 bian4 lun4], 大字報\|大字报[da4 zi4 bao4] (PRC)
一 yi1 年 nian2 四 si4 季 ji4		all year round
四 si4 处 chu4		all over the place / everywhere and all directions
四 si4 环 huan2 素 su4		tetracycline
六 liu4 四 si4		refers to Tiananmen incident of 4th June 1989
四 si4 人 ren2 帮 bang1		Gang of Four: Jiang Qing 江青, Zhang Chunqiao 張春橋, Yao Wenyuan 姚文元, Wang Hongwen 王洪文, who served as scapegoats for the excesses of the cultural revolution
四 si4 季 ji4		four seasons, namely: spring 春, summer 夏, autumn 秋 and winter 冬
朝 zhao1 三 san1 暮 mu4 四 si4		lit. say three in the morning but four in the evening (idiom); to change sth that is already settled upon / indecisive / to blow hot and cold
说 shuo1 三 san1 道 dao4 四 si4		to make thoughtless remarks (idiom) / to criticize / gossip
四 si4 邻 lin2		one's nearest neighbors
低 di1 三 san1 下 xia4 四 si4		servile
四 si4 起 qi3		to spring up everywhere / from all around
四 si4 方 fang1		four-way / four-sided / in all directions / everywhere
四 si4 面 mian4 楚 chu3 歌 ge1		lit. on all sides, the songs of Chu (idiom) / fig. surrounded by enemies, isolated and without help
四 si4 级 ji2		grade 4 / fourth class / category D
四 si4 季 ji4 豆 dou4		green bean / French bean / runner bean
四 si4 时 shi2		the four seasons, namely: spring 春, summer 夏, autumn 秋 and winter 冬
四 si4 周 zhou1		all around
周 zhou1 四 si4		Thursday
四 si4 面 mian4 八 ba1 方 fang1		in all directions / all around / far and near
张 zhang1 三 san1 李 li3 四 si4		Zhang and Li (idiom); Zhang with tight trousers and Li with wide hat / Tom, Dick and Harry
四 si4 边 bian1 形 xing2		quadrilateral
四 si4 声 sheng1		the four tones of classical Chinese phonetics, namely: level or even tone 平聲\|平声, third tone 上聲\|上声, fourth tone 去聲\|去声, entering tone 入聲\|入声 / the four tones of modern standard Chinese pronunciation, namely: First or high level tone 陰平聲\|阴平声, Second or rising tone 陽平聲\|阳平声, Third or low-falling-raising tone 上聲\|上声, Fourth or falling tone 去聲\|去声
四 si4 平 ping2 八 ba1 稳 wen3		everything steady and stable (idiom); overcautious and unimaginary
星 xing1 期 qi1 四 si4		Thursday
四 si4 面 mian4		all sides
四 si4 十 shi2		forty / 40
挑 tiao1 三 san1 拣 jian3 四 si4		to be picky / to be choosy
四 si4 重 chong2 奏 zou4		quartet (musical ensemble)
危 wei1 机 ji1 四 si4 伏 fu2		danger lurks on every side (idiom)
四 si4 散 san4		to disperse / to scatter in all directions
李 li3 四 si4		Li Si, name for an unspecified person, second of a series of three: 張三\|张三[Zhang1 San1], 李四, 王五[Wang2 Wu3] Tom, Dick and Harry
四 si4 通 tong1 八 ba1 达 da2		roads open in all directions (idiom); accessible from all sides
四 si4 方 fang1 步 bu4		a slow march
五 wu3 湖 hu2 四 si4 海 hai3		all over the world / everywhere under the sun
礼 li3 拜 bai4 四 si4		Thursday
十 shi2 四 si4 行 hang2 诗 shi1		sonnet
四 si4 分 fen1 之 zhi1 一 yi1		one-quarter