Mnemonic comic for 止

Translation

zhǐ = zh + Ø3: to stop / to prohibit / until / only

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.

James II of England (zh) lowers a striped barrier (止) across the space station’s living room (Ø3) and plants his pennant (⺊) on it to claim the room. When a dinosaur bone (丨) comes floating at it, he blows his flute (一) like a referee’s whistle, and the bone stops (止) dead at the barrier.

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How to pronounce 止

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.

= zh initial

Zh is for James II of England (詹姆斯二世, zhān​mǔ​sī èr​shì).

By Matthias • updated 17 days ago
+ Ø3 final

In the space station’s living room.

By Matthias • updated 17 days ago

止 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
⺊
Character component without intrinsic meaning
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丄
shàng = sh + ang4
old variant of 上[shang4]
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丨
gǔn = gu + (e)n3
radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 2)
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丨
shù = shu + Ø4
vertical stroke (in Chinese characters), referred to as 豎筆|竖笔[shu4 bi3]
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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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上
shǎng = sh + ang3
used in 上聲|上声[shang3 sheng1]
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上
shàng = sh + ang4
(bound form) up; upper; above; previous / first (of multiple parts) / to climb; to get onto; to go up / to attend (class or university) / (directional complement) up / (noun suffix) on; above
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Characters with 止 as component

⻊
zú = zu + Ø2
"foot" radical
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前
qián = qi + an2
front / forward / ahead / first / top (followed by a number) / future / ago / before / BC (e.g. 前293年) / former / formerly
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first month of the lunar year
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Words with 止

show 76 more
to prevent / to block
to stop / to halt / to cease
until / (used in combination with words like 到[dao4] or 至[zhi4] in constructs of the form 到...為止|到...为止)
Sentences with 止
卡
kǎ
尔
ěr
阻
zǔ
止
zhǐ
男
nán
人
rén
!
!
Kal stops the man!

Want to remember 止 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.

止
zhǐ

to stop / to prohibit / until / only

Prompt snippets

The barrier is a heavy-duty boom gate: a long rectangular arm striped diagonally in bright yellow and black, lowered horizontally across the way, mounted on a squat grey steel post with a boxy hinge housing at one end. Scuffed paint and a rubber tip at the free end.

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