忆 | yì

In Mandarin Chinese, 忆 (Pinyin: yì 🔊) is a verb “to remember”, “to reminisce”, “to reflect upon” or a noun for “memory”.

忆 is a simplified form of the traditional character 憶. According to Wiktionary, 憶 is a phono-semantic compound of semantic 忄, a radical form of 心 “heart”, and phonetic 意 (Pinyin: yì) which also contains 心. So we can say that there are two hearts in 憶. In the simplified form, 意 got replaced by unrelated but similarly-sounding 乙 (yǐ). You may remember that the same story happened with 亿 (← 億).

Compounds of 忆 include

• 回 “to return” + 忆 = 回忆 (huíyì 🔊): memory, to remember
• 失 “to lose” + 忆 = 失忆 (shīyì): to lose memory
• 记 “to record” + 忆 = 记忆 (jìyì 🔊): to remember, to recall
• 记忆 + 力 “strength” = 记忆力 (jìyìlì): ability to remember; memory

In Japanese, 憶 could be rendered as either おく (oku) or おもう (omou 🔊).

夏燕 谷ゆけり記憶 散りゆけり 金子 natsu tsubame tani yukeri kioku chiri yukeri a summer swallow flies through the valley  — memories scatter Kaneko *

More photos related to memories, hanzi and calligraphy @ Shutterstock.

*	Kaneko Tohta, Selected Haiku, Part 2: 1961—2012. Red Moon Press, 2012, p. 63.

寅 | yín

In Mandarin Chinese, 寅 (Pinyin: yín 🔊) is the third of twelve earthly branches. It corresponds to the Year of the Tiger (虎) of the Chinese zodiac; the first month; the hour of the Tiger (3 am to 5 am, “the time when Tigers hunt their prey more and show their ferocity”); and the direction 60° (where 0° is north). Its associated “fixed element” is Wood, 木. Note that the character 虎 refers to an actual tiger while 寅 refers to the zodiac animal.

In classical Chinese, 寅 also means “respect”. Sure, tigers have to be respected. As for origin of the character, Uncle Hanzi mentions “hands straightening an arrow”.

More photos related to tigers, zodiac and sea glass @ Shutterstock.

虎 | hǔ

In Mandarin Chinese, 虎 (Pinyin: hǔ) means “tiger”. The Tiger is one of the twelve-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac and is associated with the earthly branch 寅.

According to Wiktionary,

虍 represents the tiger’s head. The torso has disappeared and the legs and the tail have transformed into 人 in the small seal script and later 儿 in the clerical script.

As is the case with 犬, many historical forms of 虎 look more like an animal standing on its tail.

More photos related to tigers, zodiac and sea glass @ Shutterstock.

卯 | mǎo

In Mandarin Chinese, 卯 (Pinyin: mǎo) is the fourth of twelve earthly branches. It corresponds to the Year of the Rabbit (兔) of the Chinese zodiac; the second month; the hour of the Rabbit (5 am to 7 am, “the time when the Jade Rabbit is busy pounding herbal medicine on the Moon”); and the direction 90° (i.e. east). Its associated “fixed element” is Wood, 木. Note that the character 兔 refers to any rabbit or hare while 卯 refers to the “zodiac rabbit”.

According to Wiktionary, it is a “door (門) opened to spring”, while Uncle Hanzi says it is “possibly open gates (open eyes) which open at 5 to 7 AM”. To me, it looks like stylised “GP” (makes me think of Jade Rabbit as a general practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine).

More photos of moon, zodiac and sea glass @ Shutterstock.

兔 | tù

In Mandarin Chinese, 兔 (Pinyin: tù 🔊) is a word for “rabbit” or “hare”. The Rabbit is one of the twelve-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac and is associated with the earthly branch 卯.

In Chinese folklore, 月兔 (yuètù), “moon rabbit”, is a creature that lives on the Moon, 月 (yuè). According to Wikipedia,

it is often portrayed as a companion of the Moon goddess Chang’e, constantly pounding the elixir of life for her.

So it should come as no surprise that another, now obsolete, meaning of 兔 is “moon”. 兔 also has a different pronunciation (chān), corresponding to a different (also obsolete) meaning, “planet Mercury”.

兔 evolved from a pictogram of a rabbit-like animal.

More photos related to moon, rabbits, zodiac and sea glass @ Shutterstock.

木 | mù

In Mandarin Chinese, 木 (Pinyin: mù) means “tree” or “wood, timber”.

Wood is one of the five elements of Wǔ Xíng. Some of the historical forms of this character look like a tree with roots and branches.

More photos of trees, wood and sea glass @ Shutterstock.