记忆
jìyì · HSK 5
memory
🧠 记 (record) + 忆 (recall) = memory; both have 心 heart radical
记 means to record/note down, 忆 means to recollect. Both share the 忄 (heart) radical on the left, since classical Chinese located memory in the heart-mind. Together they form the compound for memory.
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.