穴（あな、ケツ）

Meaning: hole, opening

Components: 宀 (no meaning), 八 (eight) or katakana ハ

My hack: What sound would come out of your mouth if you fell in a hole? “Uwha?!” (ウハ?!)

刀（かたな、トウ）

Meaning: sword

My hack: Some took a sword and cut off the power (as in 力).

Other versions: 刂

This actually looks a lot more like a sword than the main version. Go figure.

丁（チョウ、テイ）

Meaning: town, street

My hack: it looks like a T intersection of 2 streets in a little town.

寸（すん）

Meaning: measurement (roughly 1 inch). Heisig calls this “glued to.”

My hack: I like to think of this as “inch.” Just think of a t-square (rotate this image in your head!), and the little dot is about an inch long.

If you want to go with the Heisig meaning (“glue” or “glued to”), then try this:

The first 2 strokes are the hot glue gun, and the little dot is the dab of glue.

石（いし、セキ、シャク、コク）

Meaning: rock, stone

Components: 一(one), 丿(katakana “no”), 口 (mouth, exit)

My hack: This one is a cheesy one but, “One rock, no way out.” As in, one一 rock (engagement ring), noノway out口 of getting married.