"speech" or "words" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 149) / see also 言字旁[yan2 zi4 pang2]
Mnemonic symbol: this character looks like a big "i" (like in information), and I'll represent it by an advertising column. Maud Younger (y) gives a speech (讠) standing on top of an advertising column (讠) in the anthill's kitchen (an2).