從

surname Cong

from / through / via / to follow / to obey / to engage in (an activity) / never (in negative sentence) / (Taiwan pr. [zong4]) retainer / assistant / auxiliary / subordinate / related by common paternal grandfather or earlier ancestor

从 = 人 : Mnemonic symbol: 从 looks like the legs of a rubber chicken. Two Neanderthal Men (人) are playing a game with Kitty Cat (cu) in the engine's kitchen ((e)ng2). They stand in a line and let Kitty Cat pass through (从) the tunnel formed by their legs by teasing her with a rubber chicken (从).

從 character breakdown

從
- 从
  - 人
    - 丿
    - ㇏
- 彳
  - 丿
  - 亻
    - 丨
    - 丿
- 止
  - 一
  - 上
    - 一
    - 丨
    - 二
      - 一
    - 丄
      - 一
      - 丨
  - 丨
  - ⺊
    - 一
    - 丨
  - 丄
    - 一
    - 丨

从

cóng = cu + (e)ng2

variant of 從|从[cong2]

彳

chì = ch + Ø4

step with the left foot (Kangxi radical 60) / see also 彳亍[chi4 chu4]

彳 = 丿 + 亻 : Mnemonic symbol for the step with the left foot: a black sneaker, because black sneakers are popular at least with the leftists I met.

Rosa Luxemburg (亻) just finished her banana (丿) and throws the peel over her shoulder in the space station's bathroom (Ø4). Charlie Chaplin (彳), wearing a black sneaker on his left foot, manages to step on the banana peel with his left foot and fall over even in zero gravity.

从

從

cóng = cu + (e)ng2

surname Cong

从

從

cóng = cu + (e)ng2

止

zhǐ = zh + Ø3

to stop / to prohibit / until / only

止 = ⺊ + 丨 + 一 : Mnemonic symbol: a barrier. James II of England (zh) is marking his area in the space station's living room (Ø3) with a big barrier (止), in front of which he sets up his pennant (⺊). He places a soldier left and right to the barrier, armed with a dinosaur bone (丨) and a flute (一) respectively.

Characters with 從 as component

纵

縱

zòng = zu + (e)ng4

warp (the vertical threads in weaving) / vertical / longitudinal / north-south (lines of longitude) / lengthwise / to release / to indulge / even if

纵 = 从 + 纟 : Zapatista Zebra (zu) is weaving a small blanket in the engine's bathroom ((e)ng4). As horizontal threads he uses silk worms (纟), and as vertical (纵) threads he uses rubber chicken (从).

踪

蹤

zo̅ng = zu + (e)ng1

footprint / trace / tracks

踪 = ⻊ + 宗 : In front of the engine ((e)ng1) Zapatista Zebra (zu) is walking over a blackboard (宗) wearing cowboy boots (⻊), leaving footprints (踪) all over it.

耸

聳

sǒng = su + (e)ng3

to excite / to raise up / to shrug / high / lofty / towering

耸 = 从 + 耳 : Susan Saint Bernard (su) set up a towering (耸) web inside of the engine ((e)ng3). When she catches her first prey she is very excited (耸), but then she finds out it is only a rubber chicken (从) and shrugs her shoulders (耸). Because she has no ears (耳) she cannot hear the rubber chicken (从) scream in despair.

怂

慫

sǒng = su + (e)ng3

used mostly in 慫恿|怂恿[song3 yong3] / (literary) terrified

枞

樅

co̅ng = cu + (e)ng1

fir tree

苁

蓯

co̅ng = cu + (e)ng1

Boschniakia glabra