to divide; to separate / to distribute; to allocate / to distinguish (good and bad) / (bound form) branch of (an organization); sub- (as in 分局[fen1 ju2]) / fraction / one tenth (of certain units) / unit of length equivalent to 0.33 cm / minute (unit of time) / minute (angular measurement unit) / a point (in sports or games) / 0.01 yuan (unit of money)
分
=
八
+
刀
:
Symbol for this character: A stopwatch (from the meaning "minute"). Frankenstein's monster (f) participates in the annual championship of chopping eight-balls (八) in front of the encampment ((e)n1). Using a cleaver (刀), he chops (kind of divides / separates (分)) as many eight-balls as he can in one minute (分).
Marie Curie (xi) got a new mass spectrometer (析) for Christmas. In front of the space station (Ø1) she smashes the Christmas tree (木) into a small powder using two barbells (斤) so that she can analyze (析) it with her new mass spectrometer.
研
=
开
+
石
:
Maud Younger is lacking salt for her ... . Luckily, there's a salt stone just inside the anthill's kitchen, so she uses a bottle opener to grind off some salt.
究
=
九
+
穴
:
Joan of Arc (ji) is carefully studying (究) cave paintings (穴) that have appeared over night in front of the outhouse (ou1) using mass spectrometry. She carves off a little of the paintings and puts them in the mass spectrometer. As it emits a huge cloud nine (九), the spectrometer shows on the display that the main component is love.