TSUMUGU · TOCFL B1 (est.) · 字
陰
陰 ＝ 阜 ＋ 侌
ㄧㄣ · yīn
noun/adj — shade, the shady side; overcast; yin
字源 FORM — what the parts do
阜義a hill, a mound (阝)
侌聲yīn — gives the sounda cloud (云) gathering under cover (今)
說文 reads it 闇——dark: the water's south, the mountain's north, the side the sun misses. The hill (阝) sets the place; 侌 yīn, clouds gathering, carries the sound exactly and the very idea of cover. From the shaded slope: 陰影 the shadow, 陰天 the overcast, 陰陽 the cosmic yin.
故事 STORY — a scene to remember it by
山（阝）的北面，雲（侌）壓著，照不進光——陰。
On the north face of the hill (阝), clouds (侌) pressing low and no sun reaching in — shade.
字源記憶法
意 · Meanings
(本義)陰、背陰— shade, the shady side常用
→陰影、樹蔭— a shadow; the shade of a tree常用
⇒陰天、陰雨— overcast; gloomy rain
⇒陰陽、陰性— yin; the negative, hidden pole
(本義) original meaning · → ⇒ each arrow = one more step of extension
關 · Related
陽yángthe opposite — 陽 is the sunlit south slope, 陰 the shaded north蔭yìnthe kin — 蔭 grows 艸 for a plant's shade, 陰 takes the hill 阝