四

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four

On-Yomi: シ — Kun-Yomi: よ、よ.つ、よっ.つ、よん

Elements:

four, pent in, human legs

Heisig story:

This character is composed of two primitive elements, mouth and human legs, both of which we will meet in the coming lessons. Assuming that you already knew how to write this kanji, we will pass over the "story" connected with it until later. Note how the second stroke is written left-to-right and then top-to-bottom. This is consistent with what we have already seen in the first three numbers and leads us to a general principle that will be helpful when we come to more complicated kanji later on: write north-to-south, west-to-east, northwest-to-southeast.

Koohii stories:

1) [tomb771] 9-2-2007(115): FOUR year-olds often put their FOOT (human legs) in their MOUTH - but they are too young to realize.

2) [elktapestry] 21-3-2007(42): I imagine a giant devouring a human in four bites. First the giant bites off the person's head, then he bites the torso, then from the waist to the knees, and finally the giant plucks up the remaining portion of the human legs into his mouth. See the fourth bite falling in there?

3) [kanji55] 29-4-2008(36): This is a picture of a slab in the morgue. It is pulled out from the drawer, and it is showing only the dead person's feet. Clearly shi means DEATH.

4) [xiteru] 9-10-2007(22): A man inside four walls.

5) [DrJones] 16-12-2007(19): Four are the legs of the Schrödinger Cat, which is kept in a box, and you don't know if the cat is dead or alive until you open it.

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