Mnemonic comic for 干

Translation

gān = g + an1: dry / dried food / empty; hollow / taken in to nominal kinship; adoptive; foster / futile; in vain / (dialect) rude; blunt / (dialect) to cold-shoulder

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.

Guy Fawkes (g) spreads apricot halves on a cloth in front of the anthill (an1) to dry (干) them. He raises a holy cross (十) to pray for sunshine and plays his flute (一) to lead the ants away like the Pied Piper, until the fruit has shrivelled into dried fruit.

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All translations for 干

gān = g + an1
old variant of 乾|干[gan1]
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gān = g + an1
variant of 乾|干[gan1]
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干
gān = g + an1
(bound form) to have to do with; to concern oneself with / one of the ten heavenly stems 天干[tian gan1] / (archaic) shield
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gàn = g + an4
tree trunk / main part of sth / to manage / to work / to do / capable / cadre / to kill (slang) / to fuck (vulgar) / (coll.) pissed off / annoyed
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gān = g + an1
dry / dried food / empty; hollow / taken in to nominal kinship; adoptive; foster / futile; in vain / (dialect) rude; blunt / (dialect) to cold-shoulder
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How to pronounce 干

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.

= g initial

G is for Guy Fawkes.

By Matthias • updated 4 months ago
+ an1 final

In front of the anthill.

By Matthias • updated 14 days ago
= g initial

G is for Guy Fawkes.

By Matthias • updated 4 months ago
+ an4 final

In the anthill’s bathroom.

By Matthias • updated 14 days ago

干 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
一
yī = y + Ø1
one / single / a (article) / as soon as / entire; whole; all; throughout / "one" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 1) / also pr. [yao1] for greater clarity when spelling out numbers digit by digit
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十
shí = sh + Ø2
ten / 10
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Characters with 干 as component

南
nán = n + an2
south
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平
píng = pi + (e)ng2
surname Ping
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平
píng = pi + (e)ng2
flat / level / equal / to tie (make the same score) / to draw (score) / calm / peaceful / abbr. for 平聲|平声[ping2 sheng1]
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Words with 干

show 231 more
see 幹嘛|干嘛[gan4 ma2]
what are you doing? / what's he up to?
clean / neat
Sentences with 干
来
lái
干
gàn
什
shén
么
me
的
de

Want to remember 干 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.

干
gān / gàn

5 translations

Prompt snippets

The dried fruit is a small heap of five dried apricot halves, deep orange with a glossy, slightly sticky sheen, each one flattened, deeply wrinkled and a little translucent at the edges.

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