Mnemonic comic for 正

Translation

zhèng = zh + (e)ng4: straight / upright / proper / main / principal / to correct / to rectify / exactly / just (at that time) / right (in that place) / (math.) positive

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) slumps over the sink in the engine’s bathroom ((e)ng4) until the stick figure (正) plays a flute (一) at him like a snake charmer. James rises bolt upright (正), and the barrier (止) arm lowered in front of his chest stops him from ever slouching forward again.

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All translations for 正

first month of the lunar year
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straight / upright / proper / main / principal / to correct / to rectify / exactly / just (at that time) / right (in that place) / (math.) positive
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How to pronounce 正

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 18 days ago
+ (e)ng1 final

In front of the engine.

By Matthias • updated 18 days ago
= zh initial

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

By Matthias • updated 18 days ago
+ (e)ng4 final

In the engine’s bathroom.

By Matthias • updated 18 days ago

正 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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止
zhǐ = zh + Ø3
to stop / to prohibit / until / only
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Characters with 正 as component

exactly / in good order / whole / complete / entire / in order / orderly / to repair / to mend / to renovate / (coll.) to fix sb / to give sb a hard time / to mess with sb
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certificate / proof / to prove / to demonstrate / to confirm / variant of 症[zheng4]
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to admonish / variant of 證|证[zheng4]
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Words with 正

show 442 more
genuine; real; true / really; indeed
genuine / real / true / genuinely
just at (that time) / right in (that place) / right in the middle of (doing sth)
Sentences with 正
他
tā
 
 
正
zhèng
在
zài
驯
xùn
马
mǎ

Want to remember 正 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.

正
zhēng / zhèng

2 translations

Prompt snippets

The stick figure is a living stick figure about waist-high to an adult, built from perfectly straight, thick matte-black rods of equal width, like a drawing come to life: a hollow black circle for a head with two dot eyes and a short straight line for a mouth, one straight vertical rod for a body, and straight rods for arms and legs. No hands, feet, clothes or hair.

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