Mnemonic comic for

Translation

zì = z + Ø4: self / oneself / from / since / naturally / surely

Mnemonic

Mnemonic symbol: a hand mirror, which someone uses to look at themselves. The Eye of Providence (目) is looking at itself (自) in a handheld mirror (自) in the space station's bathroom (Ø4). It think it's indeed looking very good, since Zorro (z) attached a petal (丶) to its eye (目).

自 character breakdown

"dot" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 3) / see also 點|点[dian3]

This character shall be represented by a petal (丶) when appearing in other characters.

Julian Giant Squid (zhu) is napping in the space station's living room (Ø3) and hugging a petal (丶).
eye / (literary) to look; to regard / eye (of a net); mesh / mesh size; grit size (abbr. for 目數|目数[mu4 shu4]) / item; section / list; catalogue / (taxonomy) order / name; title

= + : Mnemonic symbol: the Eye of Providence (目).

Malte Monkey (mu-) is unpacking an enclosure (囗) full of capacitors (二). He's afraid that the Eye of Providence (目) will see him, so he does it secretly in the space station's bathroom (-Ø4).

Characters with 自 as component

body / life / oneself / personally / one's morality and conduct / the main part of a structure or body / pregnant / classifier for sets of clothes: suit, twinset / Kangxi radical 158

= + 丿 : Mnemonic symbol: a bodysuit.

Sherlock Holmes (sh) tries on his new bodysuit (身) in front of the encampment ((e)n1). To see himself better in his hand mirror (自), he uses a banana (丿) as a selfie stick.
variant of 咱[zan2]

= + : Just inside the anthill's kitchen (an2) Zorro (z) is looking into a hand mirror (自) and declares: "You and I (咱), my dear friend, are really looking like two mandarins (口)!"
variant of 咱[zan2]

= + : Just inside the anthill's kitchen (an2) Zorro (z) is looking into a hand mirror (自) and declares: "You and I (咱), my dear friend, are really looking like two mandarins (口)!"
see 咱[zan2]
I or me / we (including both the speaker and the person spoken to)

= + : Just inside the anthill's kitchen (an2) Zorro (z) is looking into a hand mirror (自) and declares: "You and I (咱), my dear friend, are really looking like two mandarins (口)!"
sense of smell / smell bad
stench / smelly / to smell (bad) / repulsive / loathsome / terrible / bad / severely / ruthlessly / dud (ammunition)

= + : Charlie Chaplin (ch) has not showered for days and is very stinky (臭). In the outhouse's bathroom (ou4) the Saint Bernard dog (犬) even holds a mirror (自) in front of him to let him see how filthy he looks.
breath / news / interest (on an investment or loan) / to cease / to stop / to rest / Taiwan pr. [xi2]

= + : Marie Curie practices breathing fire in front of the space station while watching herself in a hand mirror. Because she is so exited her heart is pounding very hard.

= + : Mnemonic symbol: to breathe fire.
head / chief / first (occasion, thing etc) / classifier for poems, songs etc

= + : In the outhouse, the chief lends his piece pipe to Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock smokes some weed in the pipe and looks at himself in a hand mirror, thinking that he's uber cool and that he'd pass as a quite formidable chief himself.
to reach / when
former / original / primary / raw / level / cause / source

= + + : In the anthill's kitchen Yu the Great is modding a chocolate factory into a nuclear chocolate factory by powering it with an atomic bomb. Because it is hard to look inside the bomb through it's small opening, she uses a hand mirror to see inside and connect the wires. She also used a lot of daisies to decorate the bomb and underline her peaceful intentions.

= + + : Mnemonic symbol: I like how 原子, literally "original seed", means "atom". I'll represent 原 by 原子弹, an atomic bomb.
surname Yuan / (Japanese surname) Hara

= + + : In the anthill's kitchen Yu the Great is modding a chocolate factory into a nuclear chocolate factory by powering it with an atomic bomb. Because it is hard to look inside the bomb through it's small opening, she uses a hand mirror to see inside and connect the wires. She also used a lot of daisies to decorate the bomb and underline her peaceful intentions.

= + + : Mnemonic symbol: I like how 原子, literally "original seed", means "atom". I'll represent 原 by 原子弹, an atomic bomb.

Words with 自

can't help; involuntarily (idiom)
self-evident; needing no explanation (idiom)
not take a proper measure of oneself / to overrate one's own abilities
(of a rumor etc) to collapse (in the light of facts etc) / to be discredited
Sandu Shuizu autonomous county in Qiannan Buyei and Miao autonomous prefecture 黔南州[Qian2 nan2 zhou1], Guizhou
to confess without being pressed / to make a confession without duress
not daring to act for oneself (idiom)
unable to control oneself / to be beside oneself
uneasy / ill at ease
unnatural / artificial
unaware / unconscious of sth
to overestimate one's capabilities
self-explanatory / self-evident (idiom)
to turn up without being invited / unsolicited
Sanjiang Dong autonomous county in Liuzhou 柳州[Liu3 zhou1], Guangxi
abbr. for 三自愛國教會|三自爱国教会[San1 zi4 Ai4 guo2 Jiao4 hui4], Three-Self Patriotic Movement
Three-Self Patriotic Movement, PRC government-sanctioned Protestant church from 1949
Three-Self Patriotic Movement, PRC government-sanctioned Protestant church from 1949

Sentences with 自

zì
cóng
bì
mǎ
we̅n
lái
cǐ
yǐ
hòu