to rise / to flourish / to become popular / to start / to encourage / to get up / (often used in the negative) to permit or allow (dialect) / maybe (dialect)
feeling or desire to do sth / interest in sth / excitement
兴
=
小
+
一
+
八
:
I would say this one looks definitely like a hedgehog, but since there's already a character for hedgehog, let's call this one a sea star.
兴
=
小
+
一
+
八
:
Marie Curie found a sea star attached to a big eight ball in the engine's bathroom. As she is a curious and interested scientist, she wants to investigate the sea star, so she pokes it with a flute and tries to tickle it with a daisy.
to die / to lose / to be gone / to flee / deceased
亡
=
乚
+
亠
:
Willy Walrus (w) just finished digging a grave (亡) for his dead relatives who were killed in the Arctic in the anglepod's kitchen (ang2). Exhausted, he sticks the shovel (乚) in the earth and puts his beret (亠) on it. Finally, he sets up the tombstone (mnemonic symbol for 亡).
亾
=
乚
+
人
:
My mnemonic for 亡 is a tombstone, so this ancient variant gets to be a sarcophagus.
Willy Walrus (w) has to bury the Neanderthal man (人) in the anglepod's kitchen (ang2). The Neanderthal man (人) is lying in a half open sarcophagus (亾) next to Willy, and Willy uses a shovel (乚) to dig the grave.