乾燥

dry / dried food / empty; hollow / taken in to nominal kinship; adoptive; foster / futile; in vain / (dialect) rude; blunt / (dialect) to cold-shoulder

干 = 一 + 十 : Mnemonic symbol: dried fruit.

Guy Fawkes (g) is drying (干) his clothes in front of the anthill (an1). He hangs them on a large construction made from a cross (十) and a flute (一). Waiting for his clothes to dry, he snacks dried fruit (mnemonic symbol for 干).

燥

zào = z + ao4

dry / parched / impatient

燥 = 喿 + 火 : Zorro (z) suffers from constipation (燥) in the aorta's bathroom (ao4), so he concocts a traditional Chinese medicine. He puts a cuckoo's clock (喿) in a desiccator (燥) and starts a fire (火) under it to dry (燥) the clock.