薄
← →
dilute
On-Yomi: ハク — Kun-Yomi: うす.い、うす-、-うす、うす.める、うす.まる、うす.らぐ、うす.ら-、うす.れる、すすき
Elements:
dilute, flowers, water, water droplets, water pistol, acupuncturist, specialty, drop, ten, needle, rice field, brains, glue
Heisig story:
Take a good look at this kanji: the "strong" element here is really the flower, not the water as you might have thought on first glance. To the right is the acupuncturist from frame 48. Taking the key word to connote diluting the vital humors of the body, we can imagine our acupuncturist performing his task with flowers in place of needles, and using their hollow stems to pipe water into the body of the patient.
Koohii stories:
1) [gaijinda] 17-10-2007(173): A Dr. missing his needle can only use dilute flower water for medicine.
2) [pm215] 15-2-2008(112): [As suggested by stehr and on the forum (http://forum.koohii.com/viewtopic.php?id=1079), we create a new keyword 'seaweed' for the flower on top and water below and to the left. See also fall (#299 落), clan (#1912 藩),seaweed (#2035 藻). This story is for people using that idea.] The homeopath (a doctor without any needle) specialises in dilute medicines. This one's an essence of seaweed – just dip the seaweed into the beaker, swish it about and remove. Barmy!
3) [stehr] 29-12-2007(94): Note This character belongs to a set of characters which share the flower/water primitive such as:: dilute (#227 薄), fall (#299 落), clan (#1912 藩), and seaweed (#2035 藻)…. ( 落 薄 藩 藻 ) It may be helpful to create a primitive keyword for this occurrence (like seaweed or watering can) which can save a lot of time distinguishing them from characters like Sino 満 and Full 満 , where the water primitive is larger than the flower primitive.
4) [wzafran] 17-6-2007(22): A man with thick blood dripping out of his hands visits an acupuncturist. "Please dilute my blood!" he says. The acupuncturist gives the man a seat, punctures his skin with many flower stems, and inserts a drop of cold water through the holes at the top of those stems. The man's blood becomes soft pink in colour . As too much blood had been diluted, he dies.
5) [AndamanIslander] 15-1-2008(19): A homeopathy specialist takes flowers and dilutes them in some water… (picture my hippie aunt with her homeopathist diluting flowers in water.).