天
=
一
+
大
:
Mnemonic symbol: an angel from heaven. Mother Teresa (ti) programmed a robot (大) to play a flute duet together with her in front of the anthill (an1). As they play their flutes (一) an angel (mnemonic symbol for 天) hears their heavenly tune and descends from heaven (天) to listen to them.
son / child / seed / egg / small thing / 1st earthly branch: 11 p.m.-1 a.m., midnight, 11th solar month (7th December to 5th January), year of the Rat / Viscount, fourth of five orders of nobility 五等爵位[wu3 deng3 jue2 wei4] / ancient Chinese compass point: 0° (north) / subsidiary / subordinate / sub-
子
=
了
+
一
:
Zorro wants to eat an egg in the space station, and he already put it in a prize cup, as he has no egg cup. He also lacks a spoon, so he uses a big flute to crush the egg open.
㠯
=
尸
+
口
:
Mnemonic symbol: 㠯 looks like a cool pair of safety goggles.
A ghost (尸) has been hiding from Maud Younger (Ø3) in a mandarin (口). Maud finds the mandarin in the space station's living room (Ø3) and squeezes the ghost out, and in order to (㠯) be protected from the mandarin juice flying all around in zero gravity she is wearing safety goggles (㠯).
以
=
人
+
厶
:
So this is Neanderthal Man with a fake nose. He has bushy eyebrows, so my symbol for 以 is going to be one of these fake noses that come with additional glasses, eyebrows, and a moustache: Groucho glasses.
以
=
人
+
厶
:
Maud Younger and Neanderthal Man prepared some costumes for Halloween in the space station. Neanderthal Man created a big fake nose, while Maud Younger made a pair of Groucho glasses.
to order / to command / an order / warrant / writ / to cause / to make sth happen / virtuous / honorific title / season / government position (old) / type of short song or poem
令
=
今
+
㇏
:
As a mnemonic symbol, I'm going to use a 令牌, which was a tablet to identify someone as an official sent by the emperor to convey the emperor's orders.
令
=
今
+
㇏
:
Li Qingzhao has been sent by the emperor to collect rent from the English, but they are nowhere to be found. Finally, Li Qingzhao arrived at the engine's bathroom, ready to show her 令牌, raise the finger and show to the date of payday on the calendar—if there were anyone in the engine's bathroom.
down / downwards / below / lower / later / next (week etc) / second (of two parts) / to decline / to go down / to arrive at (a decision, conclusion etc) / measure word to show the frequency of an action
下
=
一
+
卜
:
Mnemonic symbol: from the up/down logic, and a little bit the shape of the character, a ladder.
Xi Shi (xi) is on a retreat in the ashram. Using a voodoo staff (卜), she divined that next (下) week she'll have to play the flute (一) sixteen hours per day. Because she hates playing the flute, she climbs over the ashram's bathroom (a4) wall using a ladder (下) to escape.