Mandarinbanana

middle of the forehead / imperial court / heaven

day / sky / heaven

天 = 一 + 大 : Mother Teresa (ti) programmed a robot (大) to play a flute duet together with her in front of the anthill (an1). As they play their flutes (一) an angel (天) hears their heavenly tune and descends from heaven to listen to them.

庭

tíng = ti + (e)ng2

main hall / front courtyard / law court

庭 = 广 + 廷 : Mother Teresa (ti) wants to one-up her palace courtyard (廷) for the cat-o-nine tails in the engine's kitchen ((e)ng2). She upgrades it to the main hall (庭) by covering the walled courtyard with a parachute (广) as canopy.

威

we̅i

严

嚴

yán

dignified / imposing / august / awe-inspiring / awe / prestige / dignity

威

we̅i = w + ei1

power / might / prestige

威 = 女 + 戌 : Mnemonic symbol: James Clerk Maxwell, 马克斯威

Maxwell holds a special lecture in front of the Eiffel Tower, and his students are Bessie Coleman, Willie Walrus and a cute poodle. Maxwell spends a lot of time explaining the inverse power law of electrostatic forces.

严

嚴

yán = y + an2

surname Yan

严 = 亚 + 厂 : Mnemonic symbol: a tightly sealed bottling jar. Just inside the anthill's kitchen, Maud Younger is working on her top secret project. On a table she's got a sealed bottling jar of Mapo Doufu and a still packaged and sealed chocolate factory. She plans to modify the chocolate factory to produce Mapo Doufu, to sell the food world wide.

严

嚴

yán = y + an2

tight (closely sealed) / stern / strict / rigorous / severe / father

严 = 亚 + 厂 : Mnemonic symbol: a tightly sealed bottling jar. Just inside the anthill's kitchen, Maud Younger is working on her top secret project. On a table she's got a sealed bottling jar of Mapo Doufu and a still packaged and sealed chocolate factory. She plans to modify the chocolate factory to produce Mapo Doufu, to sell the food world wide.

被

bèi = b + ei4

quilt / by / (indicates passive-voice clauses) / (literary) to cover / to meet with / (coll.) (since c. 2009) used before a verb that does not accurately represent what actually happened, to describe with black humor how sb or sth was dealt with by the authorities (as in 被自殺|被自杀[bei4 zi4 sha1])

被 = 皮 + 衤 : In Eiffel Tower's bathroom, Beelzebub is delighted by the evil humans are able to bring into the world when he watches a royal ermine coat and a tanned cow's hide.

他

ta̅ = t + a1

he or him / (used for either sex when the sex is unknown or unimportant) / (used before sb's name for emphasis) / (used as a meaningless mock object) / other / another

他 = 也 + 亻 : An excavator sees Rosa Luxemburg and Tecumseh whisper secretly in front of the ashram. He wants to approach them, when Rosa raises her arm and points at him.

他

ta̅ = t + a1

he; him (used for either sex when the sex is unknown or unimportant) / (used before sb's name for emphasis) / (used as a meaningless mock object) / (literary) other

丢

丟

diu̅ = di + ou1

to lose / to put aside / to throw

丢 = 厶 + 壬 : Dorothy Gale plays catch with the cat o' nine tails in front of the outhouse. Dorothy has no ball, but instead throws a fake nose for the cat o' nine tails to catch.

尽

儘

jǐn = ji + (e)n3

to the greatest extent / (when used before a noun of location) furthest or extreme / to be within the limits of / to give priority to

尽

盡

jìn = ji + (e)n4

to use up / to exhaust / to end / to finish / to the utmost / exhausted / finished / to the limit (of sth) / all / entirely

尽 = ⺀ + 尺 : Someone or something is using up all the blossoms in the encampment's bathroom, each day one more is missing. Joan of Arc wants to find out when they will be used up, so each day, she measures the remaining blossoms with a tape-measure.

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