not to have / no / none / not / to lack / un- / -less
无
=
一
+
𠂇
+
乚
:
Mnemonic symbol: the philosopher Diogenes, who has nothing and wants nothing.
无
=
一
+
𠂇
+
乚
:
Just inside the space station's entrance, Diogenes is annoyed by Willy Walrus, who's playing his flute. Diogenes just wants a peaceful time without being disturbed, so he cuts the flute into pieces with a pair of scissors, and threatens to beat Willy Walrus with a shovel should he annoy Diogenes again.
Mnemonic symbol: 無爲, wu2 wei2, the state of non-doing after having attained complete harmony with the Tao.
Willy Walrus (w) has attained Wu Wei (無) just inside the space station's entrance (Ø2), while from the outside it may seem like he is napping.
poor / destitute / to use up / to exhaust / thoroughly / extremely / (coll.) persistently and pointlessly
穷
=
力
+
穴
:
Cupid (qu) exhausted (穷) his bank account and is very poor (穷). He has nowhere to go and nothing to do anymore. In the engine's kitchen ((e)ng2) he creates a big cave painting (穴) out of boredom. Idly he paints a big power button (力) wishing that upon hitting it, money would rain down on him.
to use up / to exhaust / to end / to finish / to the utmost / exhausted / finished / to the limit (of sth) / all / entirely
尽
=
⺀
+
尺
:
Someone or something is using up all the blossoms in the encampment's bathroom, each day one more is missing. Joan of Arc wants to find out when they will be used up, so each day, she measures the remaining blossoms with a tape-measure.