Mnemonic

“slope + white + small” originally this was drawn as “slope + white + water” and meant origin, as in “spring.” The idea being that White clear Water coming out of a Slope was a spring, or the ORIGIN of a river. “Water” has been simplified down to “Small”, so this meaning is now less clear.

Pronunciation mem

If you remember that the chinese pinyin for dollar is yuan2, than remember this - the root (origin) of all evil is money (dollars)

Mnemonic

Snowflakes, WHITE and SMALL, are on the SLOPE. That's the ORIGIN of the icy water.

Pronunciation mem

Creationists wouldn't pay 2 yuan (yuan2) to buy Darwin's "The Origin of Species".

Mnemonic

SLOPE-WHITE-SMALL — ORIGIN.

Sample

原来- yuanlai- originally

原子核- yuanzidan- atomic bomb

Mnemonic

Man ORIGINated in the Garden of Eden. "Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden" -- this character was derived from water-white-spring originating in the place where it all began.

Pronunciation mem

At the origin of the rainbow I found 2 yuans.

Mnemonic

"slope + drop + sun + small"

Mnemonic

I come (origin) from a small white slope in a park (yuan2).

Mnemonic

The river has its ORIGIN in a SMALL WHITE stream flowing down the SLOPE of the mountain.

Mnemonic

Reminds me of CAPITAL (京) and a SLOPE, as if to say that even the largest sprawling city was once just a lonely hillside. The most metropolitan skyline has a humble ORIGIN.

Pronunciation mem

You wan' to (yuan2) look for a spring?

I found 2 yuan2 at the spring.

Mnemonic

slope-white-small: a small spring from a cliff. Spring and ORIGIN are the same word in many languages: Source (FR), Quelle (DE) etc.

You can see how water 水 might have been shrunk to 小 to save space. After all, this is just a small spring, a pure source, ORIGIN of white water from a cliff. From http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Butterfly_Spring_water.jpg

Pronunciation mem

YUAN (you and) me need 2 find the ORIGIN of the small white slope.

Pronunciation mem

Scientists have traced back 2 YUANs to find the ORIGIN of sleep.

Suggested changes

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Old versions

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Parents

Dependents

Easily confused with

English alternatives

  • _original
  • raw
  • level
  • primary
  • original
  • source
  • _Flatlands
  • _former
  • cause
  • former
  • _flatlands

Mandarin alternatives

  • _原

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