one / single / a (article) / as soon as / entire; whole; all; throughout / "one" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 1) / also pr. [yao1] for greater clarity when spelling out numbers digit by digit
Maud Younger (y) forgot her keys to the space station (Ø1), all she brought outside was her flute (一). She has no choice but to crash the door with the giant flute.
一 character breakdown
The character 一 cannot be broken down into individual components.
to exist; to be alive / (of sb or sth) to be (located) at / (used before a verb to indicate an action in progress)
在
=
一
+
亻
+
土
:
Zorro (z) and Rosa Luxemburg (亻) exist (在) in the airplane's bathroom (ai4). Rosa is in the middle of balancing a flute (一) on her head and on a pile of clay (土). Zorro uses his rapier to inscribe "Z" into the flute, so as to mark that the pronunciation of "在" begins with "z".
⺊
=
丨
+
一
:
Mnemonic symbol: ⺊ looks a bit like a pennant.
Someone stuck a flute into the middle of a hollow dinosaur bone to conduct studies on the speed of sound. At the one end of the hollow dinosaur bone is an answering pennant, used in the International Signal Code primarily for the reply "signal is received and understood", which should be raised as soon as the person is hearing the sound made by the flute.
亍
=
一
+
丁
:
Mnemonic symbol: a step with the right foot is a kick of a righteous knight, who wears a full armor boot on his right foot.
Someone is playing music on a flute (一) for Chantal Chicken (chu) in the space station's bathroom (Ø4) so that she can practice pole dancing on a huge nail (丁). She's working on her step with the right foot (亍) while wearing a full armor boot (mnemonic symbol for 亍).
measure of length, ten Chinese feet (3.3 m) / to measure / husband / polite appellation for an older male
丈
=
一
+
乂
:
Mnemonic symbol: ten feet are about 3 meters, so let's say Bigfoot. Nice side effect: that way it's easier to remember 丈夫 = husband (if your husband looks like Bigfoot). The ten feet tall Bigfoot (丈) just left the anglepod's bathroom (ang4), and he left something that looks like a big flute (一). James II of England (zh) needs to move it out of the way, but he'll touch it only with pliers (丈).
"lid" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 8)
亠
=
丶
+
一
:
Mnemonic symbol: 亠 looks like a beret. Tecumseh (t) is killing time in the Outhouse's kitchen (ou2) by playing a game. His goal is to blow a petal leaf (丶) into a beret (亠) by blowing air through a flute (一).
Charlie Chaplin (ch) finds that the also-ran (亦) ran over his flute (一) in the space station's bathroom (Ø4) bare-footed (赤). Angrily he gives the also-ran a red letter (赤).
七
=
一
+
乚
:
Mnemonic symbol: the Seven-Branched (七) Laser Sword. The Queen of Hearts (qi) is testing her new Seven-Branched Laser Sword (七) in front of the space station (Ø1). She's slicing flutes (一) and shovels (乚).
九
=
丿
+
一
+
乚
:
Joan of Arc is on cloud nine in the outhouse. With a shovel, she dug up a banana: when she peeled it she found a flute inside, with which she instantly fell in love.
not to have / no / none / not / to lack / un- / -less
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.
无
=
一
+
𠂇
+
乚
:
Mnemonic symbol: the philosopher Diogenes, who has nothing and wants nothing.
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.