卖

mài = m + ai4

to sell / to betray / to spare no effort / to show off or flaunt

卖 = 十 + ㇖ + 头 : Mahatma Gandhi (m) wants to get rid of his worldly possessions and sets up a flea market in the airplane's bathroom (ai4). He displays a cross (十), a sickle (㇖) and a skull (头) which he wants to sell (卖), so he attached price tags to all of them.

卖 character breakdown

卖
- 十
  - 一
  - 丨
- 买
  - 乛
  - 头
    - 大
      - 一
      - 人
        
        丿
        
        ㇏
    - ⺀
      - 丶
  - ㇖
- 头
  - 大
    - 一
    - 人
      - 丿
      - ㇏
  - ⺀
    - 丶
- ㇖

十

shí = sh + Ø2

ten / 10

十 = 一 + 丨 : Mnemonic symbol: a holy cross. Sherlock Holmes (sh-) is investigating a very strange thing he found in the kitchen of the space station (-2): A big pyramid made of ten (十) crosses (十), which are in turn made out of flutes (一) and dinosaur bones (丨).

买

買

mǎi = m + ai3

to buy / to purchase

买 = ㇖ + 头 : Mahatma Gandhi visits the airplane. He sees a neat skull and a nice sickle, and he asks for the price, because he wants to buy them both.

头

頭

tóu = t + ou2

head / hair style / the top / end / beginning or end / a stub / remnant / chief / boss / side / aspect / first / leading / classifier for pigs or livestock / CL:個|个[ge4]

头 = ⺀ + 大 : Tecumseh (t) is inspecting is depiction in the outhouse's kitchen (ou2). He's depicted as having a skull (mnemonic symbol for 头) head (头) with two petal leaves (⺀) in the eye holes, and having a robot (大) body.

头

頭

tou = t + ou5

suffix for nouns

㇖

Character component without intrinsic meaning

A sickle.

Characters with 卖 as component

读

讀

dú = du + Ø2

to read / to study / reading of word (i.e. pronunciation), similar to 拼音[pin1 yin1]

读 = 卖 + 讠 : Doggy Dog finds an advertising column just inside the space station's entrance. He finds out that it's for sale: There is an price tag attached to it. He reads the price tag aloud: "woof woof woof woof!"

读

讀

dú = du + Ø2

to read out; to read aloud / to read / to attend (school); to study (a subject in school) / to pronounce

读

讀

dòu = d + ou4

comma / phrase marked by pause

续

續

xù = xu + Ø4

to continue / to replenish

续 = 卖 + 纟 : Xu Xian (xu) and the silk worm (纟) are running a flea market (卖) In the space station's bathroom (Ø4) to replenish (续) their cash box. To keep it running continuously (续) they are standing behind their table in turns (续).

赎

贖

shú = shu + Ø2

to redeem / to ransom

窦

竇

dòu = d + ou4

surname Dou

窦

竇

dòu = d + ou4

hole / aperture / (anatomy) cavity / sinus