油

yóu = y + ou2

oil / fat / grease / petroleum / to apply tung oil, paint or varnish / oily / greasy / glib / cunning

油 = 氵 + 由 : Maud Younger (y) is creating art in the outhouse's kitchen (ou2). She is painting a picture using oil (油) paint and occasionally using water color stored in a water bottle (氵). She is nipping a cuba libre (由) and from time to time even using her drink as color for her picture.

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油 character breakdown

油
- 氵
  - ⺀
    - 丶
  - ㇀
- 由
  - 丨
  - 曰
    - 一
    - 囗

氵

shuǐ = shu + ei3

"water" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 85), occurring in 沒|没[mei2], 法[fa3], 流[liu2] etc / see also 三點水|三点水[san1 dian3 shui3]

Add a new mnemonic for 氵 = ⺀ + ㇀

氵 = ⺀ + ㇀ : Mnemonic symbol: a bottle of water. Sheldon Shrimp (shu) enjoys a bottle of water (氵) in the Eiffel Tower's living room (ei3). The got the water by scratching (㇀) a blossom (⺀) and catching the leaking dew in a bottle.

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由

yóu = y + ou2

to follow / from / because of / due to / by / via / through / (before a noun and a verb) it is for ... to ...

Add a new mnemonic for 由 = 丨 + 曰

由 = 丨 + 曰 : Mnemonic symbol: 自由古巴， a cuba libre. The character 由 itself even looks like a cuba libre.

Maud Younger (y) is taking part in a charity auction in the outhouse's kitchen (ou2). She is auctioning the dinosaur bone (丨) next to her and is speaking into a microphone (曰). In the other hand she is holding a cuba libre (由), and she is already quite drunk.

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