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dǎn
Mr. Hyde
亠 + 回 + 旦dàn
top hat + return + daybreak
Character Notes

Mr. Hyde is the tophat that returns at daybreak after evenings of dastardly deeds. (He is upright Dr. Jekyll during the day.)

Character Comparison
Series

cloth
𠂇 + 巾
by one's side + towel
Character Notes

Picture a cook or server with a cloth towel at their waist or over their arm.

Father Damien, a man of the cloth, devoted his life to the leper settlement in Hawaii. He eventually caught leprosy and had to wrap himself in cloth.

Character Comparison

E

jiǎn
*covered rickshaw
东 + 一
east/rickshaw + “flap”
Character Notes

marriage rickshaw covering the bride

Character Comparison

*antiques salesman
亠 + 丷 + 冂 + 古
top hat + horns + hood + ancient
Character Notes

evil antique salesman: horns under the top hat, pulls the hood off the fake antique

Character Comparison
商shāng salesman
Series

wèi
flavor
口 + 未wèi
mouth + not yet
Character Notes

Picture a special candy that hits your mouth, but the flavor is not yet.

"Don't taste it yet."

Character Comparison
Series

flay
录 + 刂
record + sword
Character Notes

He holds the Guinness world record for flaying bear skins with a sword.

Character Comparison
Series

zuò
seat
广 + 坐zuò
cave + sit
Character Notes

Just like animals that return to the same spot over and over to sit, so do you, finding a nice seat in your cave. (Hunter-Gatherer)

Character Comparison

4

jìn
*Amelia Bedelia
彐 + 宀 + 又
broom + house + right hand
Character Notes

Amelia Bedelia sweeps the house with her right hand

Character Comparison
Series

garbage
土 + 立lì
soil + stand up
Character Notes

garbage should turn into soil, not stand up for years

Character Comparison

yùn
iron [v.]
尉 + 火
martyr + fire
Character Notes

Mother: I’m a martyr who fires the iron every day to keep Dad looking good. / Daughter: There are so many options for a career woman to avoid being the martyr at home ironing: wrinkle-free fabrics, dry cleaners, housekeepers.

Character Comparison

měng
fierce
犭 + 孟mèng
Aesop + Mencius
Character Notes

Mencius on Fierceness” Although Mencius believed that human nature is righteous and humane and advised kings to that end, he had no illusions about the fierceness of the animal world. Moral: The Animal Kingdom is a dog-eat-dog world. (Fables)

Character Comparison

grope
扌 + 莫mò
hand + nobody/mirage
Character Notes

You grope around with your hand, but there’s nobody there; its just a mirage.

Character Comparison

bāo
*bound up
Character Notes

as a component: “包字头”

Character Comparison

wēi
might [n.]
一 + 女 + 戊
one + woman + cannon
Character Notes

The might of a cannon blows one woman away.

It takes one woman to show her might by standing up to the cannon.

Character Comparison

zhāng
stretch [v.]
弓 + 长cháng
bow + long
Character Notes

Once you are comfortable drawing a bow, stretch its string longer.

Character Comparison

jiāo
outskirts
交jiāo + 阝
mingle + city walls
Character Notes

mingle in the outskirts, outside the city wall

Character Comparison

yāo
bewitching
女 + 夭yāo
woman + die young
Character Notes

Mother: Judy Garland was bewitched by a life in the spotlight and died young. / Daughter: If you are bewitched by the myth that a woman can do it all and all at once, you will die young.

Character Comparison

qiǎng
rob
扌 + 仓cāng
hand + storehouse
Character Notes

a shop-lifting hand robs the storehouse

Character Comparison
Series

jiǎo
sly
犭 + 交jiāo
Aesop + mingle
Character Notes

"Sly Mingles" Sly and the Family Stone was a popular American band in the 1970’s. They were the first major American rock group to have a racially integrated, male and female lineup. Moral: Sly knows how to mingle. (Fables)

Character Comparison
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