Pinyin "chai1"

In MandarinBanana's mnemonic system, the Pinyin syllable "chai1" is split up into two parts: "ch" and "ai1". You can visit the Pinyin index to see how other Pinyin syllables are split up into initials and finals.

Mnemonics for Pinyin initial "ch"

Ch is for Charlie Chaplin.

Mnemonics for Pinyin final "ai1"

In front of the airplane.

Characters pronounced chai1

拆

cha̅i = ch + ai1

to tear open / to tear down / to tear apart / to open

拆 = 扌 + 斥 : Charlie Chaplin (ch) tries to tear down (拆) the salt marshes (斥) in front of the airplane (ai1) with a toy claw (扌), but it is really tedious to grab every salt crystal and every drop of water individually.

差

cha̅i = ch + ai1

to send (on an errand) / (archaic) person sent on such an errand / job; official post

钗

釵

cha̅i = ch + ai1

hairpin