Radical Combination

Meaning

Primary

Elephant

Alternative

Phenomenon

Mnemonic

The elephant radical and the elephant kanji are the same. But! This kanji has another meaning: phenomenon. If you were the first person to see an elephant, you'd call it that too.

Readings

On’yomi

ぞう, しょう

Kun’yomi

None

Nanori

None

Mnemonic

Elephants are great and all, except that when they die they turn into elephant zombies (ぞう). But you never see these zombies because the shougun (しょう) has a special project in place that destroys all elephant bodies when they die.

Hint: The readings and meanings for this kanji match up really nicely. ぞう is always for elephant and しょう is always for phenomenon. Remember it like this, the elephant is the zombie and the shougun keeps everyone from finding out about this phenomenon.

Visually Similar Kanji

Found In Vocabulary