记住
jì zhu · HSK 1
to remember
📝 记 (remember) + 住 (to stay) = remember + make it stay
记 contains 言 (speech) — saying something helps lock it in. 住 means to reside or stay put. Together: a memory that takes up residence and refuses to leave.
记 — speech radical 讠 (言) + self 己
记 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The left side 讠 (the 'speech' radical, simplified from 言) signals meaning related to words or recording, while 己 ('self') supplies the sound. Together it conveys writing down or remembering — noting things in words.
住 — person radical 亻 + 主 (master/zhǔ, phonetic)
住 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The left side 亻 (person) gives the meaning—something a person does—while 主 supplies the sound, originally 'zhǔ' (master, a lamp standing in place). Together they suggest a person staying put, yielding the senses 'to live, dwell, reside, stop'.