聽

Ting (to listen)

十四個學生用耳一心朵聽大王

Shi si ge xue sheng yong er duo yi xin ting da wang

Ten four students one heart use ear listen king

With one heart, fourteen students use their ears to listen to the king

This is a way of remembering the components of the Chinese character ting, meaning to listen. 十, 四, 一, 心, 耳, and 王are the components that make up the character 聽 and all stand alone as well. This strings them into a sentence to make them easier to remember.

My informant’s Chinese teacher taught her this mnemonic device when she was having remembering how to write ting. The sentence itself is meaningless, but my informant says that she hasn’t once forgotten how to write ting since learning this memory trick.