to rise / to flourish / to become popular / to start / to encourage / to get up / (often used in the negative) to permit or allow (dialect) / maybe (dialect)
兴
=
⺍
+
一
+
八
:
Mnemonic symbol from the shape of the character: a sea star. Xi shi (xi) and a sea star (⺍) have a strong desire (兴) to smoke catnip (⺍) through a flute (一), so they hide in the engine's bathroom ((e)ng4) to crush the catnip with an eight-ball (八) and smoke it. Shortly afterwards they relax and loose all their excitement (兴) and interest in anything (兴).
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.