水

Water

Meaning: Water

The water radical and the water kanji are the same.

So as long as you know the radicals, you know the kanji.

Reading: すい

Imagine a lake (i.e. a a whole bunch of water). When you think of water, you should try to think of this beautiful lake. It’s sunny, the trees smell nice (imagine a tree smell if you can – the more senses you use the better!) and on that tree there is an awesome tire swing (すい). You get onto the tire swing and you swing back and forth. The water is right in front of you, and you are able to use the swing to throw yourself into the water. It’s a lot colder than you expected, and you come back to the surface, gasping for breath. The water gets into your mouth and you taste it. How strange, it’s very, very sweet. Imagine the sweetness of the water and how weird it is (really really sweet, this water is).

I know that was a long one, but try to imagine all the different bits. Try to feel the feelings (cold, smell, etc) too. The more you create in this fake memory (which you’re using to remember and associate water with すい (swing)) the more likely you are to end up remembering enough to make it happen. Especially when it comes to the senses part, the more vividly you imagined it, the more likely you are to remember the on’yomi.

Vocabulary

Learn the meaning and reading of this vocab word before moving on.

a 水（みず）＝　water

• Meaning: The meaning is the same as the kanji.
• Reading: Since it’s a  vocab consisting of a single kanji, all alone, you can usually guess it’s going to be the kun’yomi reading (and it is). For this reading, I’m hoping this vocab word comes up so often you learn it via seeing it a lot and using it a lot. In fact, you may already know it at this point, if you’re lucky.

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