横筋斗

横

橫

héng

筋

ji̅n

斗

dǒu

cartwheel

Characters and words in 横筋斗

横

橫

héng = h + (e)ng2

horizontal / across / crosswise / horizontal stroke (in Chinese characters) / to place (sth) flat (on a surface) / to cross (a river, etc) / in a jumble / chaotic / (in fixed expressions) harsh and unreasonable / violent

横 = 木 + 黄 : Hamlet (h) climbed on the beam (横) of the engine's kitchen ((e)ng2) and now he is too afraid to come down again. If the Yellow Emperor (黄) doesn't want to call the fire brigade, for better or worse he'll have to climb the Christmas Tree (木) to pick Hamlet up.

横

橫

hèng = h + (e)ng4

harsh and unreasonable / unexpected

筋

ji̅n = ji + (e)n1

muscle / tendon / veins visible under the skin / sth resembling tendons or veins (e.g. fiber in a vegetable)

筋 = ⺮ + 肋 : Joan of Arc (ji) trained so much that her muscles (筋) burst her harness in front of the encampment ((e)n1). To cover her ribs (肋) she makes a larger armor out of bamboo sticks (⺮).

筋

ji̅n

斗

dǒu

tumble / somersault

斗

dǒu = d + ou3

abbr. for the Big Dipper constellation 北斗星[Bei3 dou3 xing1]

斗

dǒu = d + ou3

dry measure for grain equal to ten 升[sheng1] or one-tenth of a 石[dan4] / decaliter / peck / cup or dipper shaped object / old variant of 陡[dou3]

斗

鬥

dòu = d + ou4

to fight / to struggle / to condemn / to censure / to contend / to put together / coming together

斗 = ⺀ + 十 : Mnemonic symbol: a 斗牛士 (dou4 niu2 shi4) is a matador, who will represent 斗 when used as component.

The matador (斗) and Don Quixote (d) are fighting (斗) in the outhouse's bathroom (ou4) about who may use the bathroom next. The matador yields a holy cross (十) as a weapon, while Don Quixote (d) wisely chose a blossom (⺀) to cushion the crosses' blows.