Mnemonic
"Excuse me, is that a pig?" No — look closer. That pig grew a trunk and enormous legs, becoming a full-blown elephant! The farmer has no excuse for how his pig became an elephant, but there it stands in the barnyard, massive and unmistakable.
Additional thoughts
Picture a pig grotesquely swelling, sprouting a trunk, while a stammering farmer offers excuses. The absurd pig-to-elephant transformation sticks in memory. Excuse sits atop pig in the kanji structure.Quick recall
An excuse-making pig balloons into a colossal elephant.Details
The keyword for 象 is elephant. This kanji originally depicted the form of an elephant, with its trunk, large body, and legs visible in the ancient pictographic version of the character. Beyond its literal meaning of the animal, 象 also carries the extended meaning of "image," "shape," or "phenomenon," as elephants were considered impressive and symbolic creatures whose form represented the idea of outward appearance or representation of something larger.
- On'yomi
- しょう、ぞう
- Kun'yomi
- かたど.る