Pinyin initial: "di"

The Pinyin initial "di" is used in the first half of Pinyin syllables. In MandarinBanana's mnemonic system, "di" belongs to the group of Pinyin initials which are represented in mnemonics by women. You can visit the Pinyin index to see all Pinyin syllables from this mnemonic group, or to see all Pinyin syllables "di" can appear in.

Mnemonics for di

Di is for Dorothy Gale.

Characters with di

male adult / the 4th of the 10 Heavenly Stems 天干[tian1 gan1] / fourth (used like "4" or "D") / small cube of meat or vegetable / (literary) to encounter / (archaic) ancient Chinese compass point: 195° / (chemistry) butyl

= + : Mnemonic symobl: a nail. 一 is the head of the nail and 亅 is the shaft. The point of the nail is already a bit bent.

Dorothy Gale (di) balances a flute (一) on a crowbar (亅) in front of the engine ((e)ng1). For this trick, she wins the fourth (丁) place in an artists competition and gets a quarter (丁) of a pizza as prize. Unfortunately, there is a big nail (mnemonic symbol for 丁) on the pizza slice.
see 的士[di1 shi4]
(bound form) bull's-eye; target
really and truly
to watch attentively / to fix one's attention on / to stare at / to gaze at

= + : The eye of providence (目) is staring (盯) at Dorothy Gale (di) in front of the engine ((e)ng1). Dorothy is very annoyed by the eye's rude behavior and sticks a nail (丁) into its eye.
suburbs or outskirts / one of the five degrees of official mourning attire in dynastic China / official in charge of fields (old)

= + : The ants have set up a toy suburb (甸) in the anthill's bathroom (an4), including a field (田). It's Dorothy Gale's (di) job to till the field (田) riding on top of an elephant (勹) every day.
to sting or bite (of mosquito, bee etc) / to say repeatedly / to urge insistently / to ask repeatedly / to stick to a point / (onom.) tinkling or jingling sound

= + : In front of the engine ((e)ng1), Dorothy Gale (di) is celebrating the anniversary of the witche's death by repeatedly (叮) stinging (叮) a mandarin (口) with a nail (丁) and singing "叮咚 the witch is dead!"
dike / Taiwan pr. [ti2]

= + : Dorothy Gale (di) is using the skulls (是) of her former enemies to build a dike (堤) around the space station (Ø1). To make the dike less daunting she adds a final layer of ordinary dirt (土).
variant of 堤[di1]

= + : Dorothy Gale (di) is using the skulls (是) of her former enemies to build a dike (堤) around the space station (Ø1). To make the dike less daunting she adds a final layer of ordinary dirt (土).
inn; old-style hotel / (bound form) shop; store / CL:家[jia1]
inn / shop / store / CL:家[jia1]

= + 广 : Dorothy Gale parachutes into anthill's bathroom. She immediately occupies it (marking the territory with a flag) to open her store.
lightning / electricity / electric (bound form) / to get (or give) an electric shock / phone call or telegram etc / to send via telephone or telegram etc

= + : Dorothy Gale (di) is looking for a wall plug for her charger (mnemonic symbol for 电) in the anthill's bathroom (an4). She's digging up the whole place with a shovel (乚), but instead of a wall plug she finds a microphone (曰).
earth / ground / field / place / land / CL:片[pian4]

= + : Dorothy Gale (di) hates the cleanliness of the space station, so she used an excavator (也) in the space station's bathroom (Ø4) to dig a pile of dirt (土) out of the ground (地) for a mud bath.
dad

= + : When the time came for Immanuel "Many" Kant (多) to die, father time (父) picked him up in front of the elevator (e1). Dorothy Gale (di) also came to say goodbye to her dad (爹).
flute

= + : Dorothy Gale (di) had too many cuba libres (由) in the space station's kitchen (Ø2). She mistakes a bamboo stick (⺮) for a flute (笛) and tries to play a melody on it, even though she doesn't know how to play the flute (笛) at all. She must be really drunk!
(prefix indicating ordinal number, as in 第六[di4 liu4] "sixth") / (literary) grades in which successful candidates in the imperial examinations were placed / (old) residence of a high official / (literary) but; however / (literary) only; just

= + + + 丿 : Dorothy Gale (di) accomplished an awesome result with her composite bow (弓) in the space station's bathroom (Ø4): She shot a banana (丿) onto a dinosaur bone (丨) so the banana was split in half, and then fired a bamboo stick (⺮) into the banana (丿) so the banana was split in half as well. Dorothy is number one (第) with the bow!
to set / to fix / to determine / to decide / to order

= + + : "to fix": duct tape. Somebody wanted to tease Dorothy Gale and taped a graduation cap to her head. Neanderthal Man tries to help her by levering the cap off with a ladder in the engine's bathroom.
younger brother / junior male / I (modest word in letter)

= + + + 丿 : Mnemonic symbol: Jesse James, the younger one of the James brothers (弟).

A mean crocodile (丷) harasses Dorothy Gale (di) in the space station's bathroom (Ø4), but Jesse James (弟) is there to stop him. With a composite bow (弓), he shoots a banana (丿) as a warning shot; as the banana doesn't stop the crocodile, Jesse shoots a dinosaur bone (丨) right into the crocodile's crotch.
apex / crown of the head / top / roof / most / to carry on the head / to push to the top / to go against / to replace / to substitute / to be subjected to (an aerial bombing, hailstorm etc) / (slang) to "bump" a forum thread to raise its profile / classifier for headwear, hats, veils etc

= + : Dorothy Gale (di) is taking care of the receipts (页) inside of the engine ((e)ng3). She has a big nail (丁) on her head (顶) and every time there is a new receipt, she just pierces it onto the nail.
top (of the head) / apex / to fall forwards / inverted / to jolt

= + : Dorothy Gale (di) is going to paint the anthill (an1) and is getting ready in front of the building. In order to protect her apex (颠) she puts a sheet of paper (页) into a replicator (真) and gets out a paper hat.