happening / instance / reason / cause / intentional / former / old / friend / therefore / hence / (of people) to die, dead

= + : Mnemonic symbol: This character only appears in 做, so we don't need a strong mnemonic symbol. We should be able to refer to 故 when we think of 故事 or 故意. Because it fits nicely to its components, I'll think of it as in the meaning of 故墓, an old grave.

= + : There is an ancient cloister in the space station's bathroom, and Gitta Giraffe once heard a story from her fellow astronauts that there's an old tomb inside with lots of treasure. One day she can't hold herself back anymore and deliberately breaks the cloister open using a sledgehammer.

故 character breakdown

surname Gu
ancient / old / paleo-

= + : Mnemonic symbol: at least on German maps, this character actually resembles a cloister.

Oh no! Gitta Giraffe (gu) found that the golden cross (十) broke off of the cloister (古) in the space station's living room (Ø3)! She skewers a mandarin (口) on top of the cloister so that she can skewer the broken off cross back on to fix it.
variant of 攴[pu1]

= 𠂉 + : Mnemonic symbol: the epitome of rapping and tapping is a sledge hammer. Petra pinguin (pu) forgot her key (𠂉) and know she's locked out of the space station (Ø1). At first she tries to open the lock with pliers (乂), but in the end she has no choice but to use the sledge hammer (攵).

Characters with 故 as component

to make; to produce / to write; to compose / to do; to engage in; to hold (a party etc) / (of a person) to be (an intermediary, a good student etc); to become (husband and wife, friends etc) / (of a thing) to serve as; to be used for / to assume (an air or manner)

= + : In observatory's bathroom, Zapatista Zebra uses the well in the middle of the room as an old tomb and throws a dead Rosa Luxemburg inside to hide her corpse.

Words with 故

accident / CL:樁|桩[zhuang1],起[qi3],次[ci4]
to die / to pass away
unworldly / unsophisticated
worldly wisdom / the ways of the world / to know how to get on in the world
complete change from the old rut (idiom); dramatic change of direction / a volte-face / to change old practices
not to stick to the old conventions

Sentences with 故

故 currently does not appear in any sentence.