Mnemonic comic for 寸

Translation

cùn = cu + (e)n4: a unit of length / inch / thumb

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.

Kitty Cat (cu) builds a giant foam thumbs-up hand (寸) in the encampment’s bathroom ((e)n4): she ties a flute (一) across a crowbar (亅) as its frame, pads it with foam, and sticks a petal (丶) on its wrist exactly one inch below the thumb.

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How to pronounce 寸

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.

= cu initial

Cu is for Kitty Cat.

By Matthias • updated 3 days ago
+ (e)n4 final

In the encampment’s bathroom.

By Matthias • updated 3 days ago

寸 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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亅
jué = ju + e2
"vertical stroke with hook" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 6) / see also 豎鉤|竖钩[shu4 gou1]
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丶
zhǔ = zhu + Ø3
"dot" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 3) / see also 點|点[dian3]
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Characters with 寸 as component

shí = sh + Ø2
old variant of 時|时[shi2]
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shí = sh + Ø2
o'clock / time / when / hour / season / period
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shè = sh + e4
old variant of 射[she4]
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Words with 寸

show 14 more
inch (unit of length equal to 2.54 cm.)
size; dimensions; measurements (esp. of clothes) / (coll.) propriety
lit. not an inch of steel (idiom); unarmed and defenseless
Sentences with 寸
寸 currently does not appear in any sentence.

Want to remember 寸 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.

寸
cùn

a unit of length / inch / thumb

Prompt snippets

The giant foam thumbs-up hand is a sports-fan foam hand about 60 cm tall, cut from thick bright yellow foam, with the thumb raised straight up, the four fingers curled into the palm, smooth rounded edges, a large white "#1" printed on the palm, and a wide sleeve opening at the wrist.

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