I am using Flashcards to remember vocabulary, but could not remember the meanings for these 2 words. If you have any easy mnemonic, image or story, please advise. thanks
- 支 zhī disperse, pay, support, branch
- 技 jì skill
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1支 can be "branch" as in 分支, 支流, or "support" as in 支持, 支撐, 支柱. With a hand on its side, you can think of the word as using one hand to support something, and maintaining balance requires "skill", thus "技", as in 技巧, 技術, 技能.– r13Apr 18, 2021 at 3:48
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1 Answer
支 is a hand 又 holding a bamboo branch (half of 竹, or 个). Initial meaning is branch, which became 枝; later on 支 meaning was changed to support/assist possibly because those small branches and sticks were used to help prop up against bigger objects to prevent them from collapsing or falling over.
支 is the phonetic component of 技. Unlikely there is any actual link to meaning of 技, but if you want a sort of mnemonic, you can think of it as this:
A hand holding a bamboo branch and can be manipulated skillfully, and the hand can craft many things with bamboo --> skill, craft.
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Note 枝 has the distinct use on trees and shrubs for branches grow out of the main trunk, so wood "木" plus branch " 支" becomes 枝, as in "樹枝". It is incorrect to say 樹"支".It has no meaning of "support".– r13Apr 18, 2021 at 20:27