to extinguish or put out / to go out (of a fire etc) / to exterminate or wipe out / to drown
灭
=
一
+
火
:
In the elevator's bathroom (e4) Marilyn Monroe (mi) was playing the flute (一) so hot that it is on fire (火) now! Luckily there's a fire extinguisher so that she can put it out (灭).
to die / to lose / to be gone / to flee / deceased
亡
=
乚
+
亠
:
Willy Walrus (w) just finished digging a grave (亡) for his dead relatives who were killed in the Arctic in the anglepod's kitchen (ang2). Exhausted, he sticks the shovel (乚) in the earth and puts his beret (亠) on it. Finally, he sets up the tombstone (mnemonic symbol for 亡).
亾
=
乚
+
人
:
My mnemonic for 亡 is a tombstone, so this ancient variant gets to be a sarcophagus.
Willy Walrus (w) has to bury the Neanderthal man (人) in the anglepod's kitchen (ang2). The Neanderthal man (人) is lying in a half open sarcophagus (亾) next to Willy, and Willy uses a shovel (乚) to dig the grave.