Kanji Lesson 20

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肉 (ニク、しし)

Meat

This kanji is a picture of a piece of fish meat.

• 肉体 (にくたい) The body, The flesh
• 牛肉 (ぎゅうにく) Beef

内 (ナイ、ダイ、うち)

Inside

In its Traditional Chinese form, this character consists of the kanji for "enter/insert" (入) and a "box" radical. Together they represent the meaning of something inserted into a box, so that it is "inside" the box. In its Simplified Chinese form (from which this kanji comes), the 入 is replaced with the kanji for "person" (人).

• 内心 (ないしん) Innermost thoughts, Real intention, Inmost heart
• 町内 (ちょうない) Neighbourhood

By TANAKA Juuyoh (Flickr)
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戸 (コ、と)

Door, Counter for houses

This kanji is a picture of a japanese-style sliding door. The horizontal line at the top represents the direction of the slide. The lower part of the kanji represents the door itself, consisting of a fixed part (represented by a slightly curved vertical line) and a slidable part (represented by a box-like shape).

分 (ブン、フン、わ.かる)

Part, Minute (time), Understand

This kanjl is a picture of something being split into parts by a knife/sword (刀). The mnemonic for this kanji might sound similar to that of 半 (half). The difference is that 半 emphasizes on the result of the split (i.e two (二) parts, each of which is half the original size), while 分 emphasizes on the splitting process itself, showing the tool being used.

• 十分 (じゅうぶん) Plenty, Enough
• 不十分 (ふじゅうぶん) Insufficient; Tidak cukup
• 気分 (きぶん) Feeling, Mood
• 大分 (だいぶ) Considerably, Greatly, A lot
• 水分 (すいぶん) Moisture

切 (セツ、サイ、き.る)

Cut

By decade_resister (Flickr)
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This kanji is a picture of a bamboo being cut by a sword (刀). The left part of this kanji resembles the kanji for "seven" (七) which consists of two strokes. The first stroke (the diagonal line) represents the cut, while the second stroke represents the bamboo and its rhizome. Bamboo is one of several objects that's commonly used as a target in Tameshigiri, where a swordsman tests his cutting skill. 

• 大切 (たいせつ) Important, Valuable
• 一切 (いっさい) All, Everything, Without exception
• 切手 (きって) Stamp (postage)