铭记
míng jì · HSK 7
to engrave in one's memory
🪦 铭 inscribe-on-metal + 记 record = carve a memory so deep it never wears off
铭 originally meant text engraved into bronze or stone; 记 means to record or remember. Together they mean a memory cut in so hard it lasts like an inscription. The 钅(metal) radical in 铭 marks the engraving-on-metal origin.
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.