闭 bi4
闭=門+才
門 men2 means door
才cai2 says sprout
cai2 is literally a sprout or half a block of wood. As a standalone it looks to have lost its literal meaning an retains only its metaphoric meaning of genius, talent. However, as a pictorial or semantic element of a character it may still indicate its literal meaning (sprout/sprouting) or be a pictorial element (half block of wood)
What’s a door with a block of wood in front of it? It’s a closed door!
Block
It CLOSED
嘴 zui3
嘴 = 口+此+角
口 is a picture of a mouth
此 means this and sounds like ci3.
此=止+匕
止 zhi3 stopped + 匕 bi3 spoon = 此 ci3 this
角 is a picture of a single bull’s horn. sharp point on top, scales in the middle. It means horn, corner.
Memotechnique: This Corner of the Mouth = Zesty cItrUs