Mnemonic comic for 刀

Translation

dāo = d + ao1: knife / blade / single-edged sword / cutlass / CL:把[ba3] / (slang) dollar (loanword) / classifier for sets of one hundred sheets (of paper) / classifier for knife cuts or stabs

Mnemonic

A mnemonic is a short, deliberately ridiculous scene, built to be hard to forget. Who appears in it and where it takes place are how the pronunciation is stored; the objects in it stand for the parts the character is written with. That is the Marilyn Method, and the comic below is the same scene, drawn.

Mnemonic symbol: a cleaver - 刀 looks like a broad knife, a cleaver (while 刂 looks like a kitchen knife).

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How to pronounce 刀

MandarinBanana teaches pronunciation with the Marilyn Method: every Pinyin syllable is one initial plus one final, the initial becomes a person, an animal or a deity, and the final becomes a place in your memory palace — with the tone deciding which part of that place the scene happens in. Remember the little story below for each half and the whole syllable comes back with them.

= d initial

D is for Don Quixote.

By Matthias • updated 14 days ago
+ ao1 final

In front of the aorta.

By Matthias • updated 14 days ago

刀 character breakdown

Chinese characters are built out of smaller characters. Each component carries a mnemonic symbol - one concrete object that stands in for it - and a mnemonic story hands those objects to the person and the place that stand for the pronunciation. Learn a component once and every character that reuses it gets easier.

Component Translations
㇆
Character component without intrinsic meaning
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丿
piě = pi + e3
radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 4) / see 撇[pie3]
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Characters with 刀 as component

分
fēn = f + (e)n1
to divide; to separate / to distribute; to allocate / to distinguish (good and bad) / (bound form) branch of (an organization); sub- (as in 分局[fen1 ju2]) / fraction / one tenth (of certain units) / unit of length equivalent to 0.33 cm / minute (unit of time) / minute (angular measurement unit) / a point (in sports or games) / 0.01 yuan (unit of money)
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分
fèn = f + (e)n4
part / share / ingredient / component
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那
nā = n + a1
surname Na
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Words with 刀

show 214 more
scissors / CL:把[ba3]
knife / CL:把[ba3]
cutting edge or point of a knife, sword or tool
Sentences with 刀
拿
ná
俺
ǎn
老
lǎo
孙
sūn
的
de
大
dà
环
huán
刀
dāo
来
lái

Want to remember 刀 for good?

Make it your learning target and MandarinBanana works out the shortest route to it: the two sounds its syllable is built from, then the components of the character itself, one short step at a time. No account needed to start.

刀
dāo

knife / blade / single-edged sword / cutlass / CL:把[ba3] / (slang) dollar (loanword) / classifier for sets of one hundred sheets (of paper) / classifier for knife cuts or stabs

Prompt snippets

The cleaver is a heavy Chinese-style kitchen cleaver with a broad, rectangular carbon-steel blade, dark grey with a bright polished cutting edge and a small round hole near the top corner. Its handle is smooth honey-coloured wood held by three brass rivets.

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