Mnemonic comic for 彳

Translation

chì = ch + Ø4: step with the left foot (Kangxi radical 60) / see also 彳亍[chi4 chu4]

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 for the step with the left foot: a black sneaker, because black sneakers are popular at least with the leftists I met.

Rosa Luxemburg (亻) just finished her banana (丿) and throws the peel over her shoulder in the space station’s bathroom (Ø4). Charlie Chaplin (彳), wearing a black sneaker on his left foot, manages to step on the banana peel with his left foot and fall over even in zero gravity.

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Comments

The primary reason for this comic to exist is not to remember the character 彳 itself, but to associate it with a black sneaker. This helps us to distinguish 彳 and 亻 as components in other characters.

Matthias, over 2 years ago

How to pronounce 彳

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.

chì

= ch initial

Ch is for Charlie Chaplin.

By Matthias • updated 5 months ago

+ Ø4 final

In the space station’s bathroom.

By Matthias • updated about 2 months ago

彳 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.

彳
- 丿
- 亻
  - 丿
  - 丨

Component Translations

丿

piě = pi + e3

radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 4) / see 撇[pie3]

亻

rén = r + (e)n2

"person" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 9)

Characters with 彳 as component

行

xíng = xi + (e)ng2

to walk / to go / to travel / a visit / temporary / makeshift / current / in circulation / to do / to perform / capable / competent / effective / all right / OK! / will do / behavior / conduct / Taiwan pr. [xing4] for the behavior-conduct sense

行

háng = h + ang2

row / line / commercial firm / line of business / profession / to rank (first, second etc) among one's siblings (by age) / (in data tables) row / (Tw) column

往

wǎng = w + ang3

to go (in a direction) / to / towards / (of a train) bound for / past / previous

Words with 彳

彳亍

彳

chì

亍

chù

(literary) to walk slowly

Sentences with 彳

彳 currently does not appear in any sentence.

Want to remember 彳 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.

彳

chì

step with the left foot (Kangxi radical 60) / see also 彳亍[chi4 chu4]