源

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source

On-Yomi: ゲン — Kun-Yomi: みなもと

Elements:

source, water, water droplets, water pistol, meadow, cliff, sun, day, small, little

Heisig story:

With the advice of the last frame in mind, it is easy to see water and meadow in this character for source. Both in its etymology (it has a common parent with the word "surge") and in popular usage, source suggests the place water comes from. In this kanji, it is under the meadow, where we just saw it breaking the surface in those bubbly little springs.

Koohii stories:

1) [dogen2] 17-3-2007(146): The water that flows from the meadow is the source of life for the wild antelope.

2) [ziggr] 14-8-2006(74): The source of clean water is from the meadow (#134 原): it comes from that spring at the bottom of the cliff. Pay no attention to Julie Andrews lying face down in spring. The water's clean. Trust me.

3) [mdspencer] 11-2-2009(65): Water is the source of a meadow's beauty.

4) [Danieru] 11-11-2007(31): Here the SOURCE of water is deep beneath the ground (cliff) - it seeps up, joins the water springs, flows through the meadow, and down the waterfall at the end. (NOTE- to keep spring (133) and source separate, remember that a spring can be anywhere above ground; but the source of water is deep beneath the ground (cliff), and flows up through the ground to join springs and streams - which is why there are two primitives for water in this kanji).

5) [rgravina] 20-5-2007(23): Bottled water companies assure us that the source of their water is from some beautiful meadow-spring in the Swiss Alps, but we all know they just bottle up tap water.

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