生卒年

dates of birth and death (of historical figure)

Characters and words in 生卒年

to be born / to give birth / life / to grow / raw / uncooked / student

生 = 牛 + 一 : Mnemonic symbol: a cradle.

Sherlock Holmes (sh) comforts a crying baby bull (牛) in a cradle (生) in front of the engine ((e)ng1) and plays him a tune on a flute (一).

卒

䘚

zú = zu + Ø2

variant of 卒[zu2]

卒

cù = cu + Ø4

variant of 猝[cu4]

卒

zú = zu + Ø2

soldier / servant / to finish / to die / finally / at last / pawn in Chinese chess

卒 = 亠 + 从 + 十 : Zapatista Zebra (zu) is putting up a cross (十) in the space station's kitchen (Ø2) as commemoration for a fallen soldier (卒). The fallen soldier is a rubber chicken (从) which is wearing a beret (亠).

年

nián = ni + an2

surname Nian

年

nián = ni + an2

year / CL:個|个[ge4]

年 = 午 + 丨 + 一 : Nefertiti (ni) is having lunch (午) in the anthill's kitchen (an2). Unfortunately they didn't have any cutlery left so she has to use a dinosaur bone (丨) and a flute (一) instead of fork and knife. It will take her a whole year (年) to finish her lunch this way.