寸

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measurement

On-Yomi: スン

Elements:

measurement, glue, drop, ten with a hook

Heisig story:

This kanji actually stood for a small measurement used prior to the metric system, a bit over an inch in length, and from there acquired the sense of measurement. In the old system, it was one-tenth of a shaku (whose kanji we shall meet in frame 1151). The picture, appropriately, represents one drop of a ten (with a hook!).

Heisig comment:

* As a primitive, we shall use this to mean glue or glued to. There is no need to devise a story to remember this, since the primitive will appear so often you would have to struggle hard NOT to remember it.

Koohii stories:

1) [ceeeps] 26-8-2007(330): The decimal system uses drops of ten as a measurement.

2) [gaijinda] 19-10-2007(73): Glue two sticks together to make the best measurement. (I always remember the primitive, but never the original keyword.).

3) [leebo_mac] 1-3-2009(64): Use two lines (X axis and Y axis) to measure the dot (on the graph).

4) [w_oertl] 23-9-2007(36): Take your medicine, exactly ten drops. Picture yourself measuring it out with a pipette.

5) [ale87] 18-3-2008(31): A single shaku is divided into 10 sun ( 寸 ). The original definition for shaku was the average distance between growth nodes on a bamboo. Thus a tenth of a shaku is a measurement.

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