There was another post about how to remember this more than 10 years ago. This kind of thing is why I never tried to learn Kanji. It’s a simple shape, but I looked at the “not yet” Kanji and thought I darn well should know that, but I’m blanking. I’m discouraged. Anyone have a suggestion? One of my books says this Kanji has something to do with Sheep, but that doesn’t help either.
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I sometimes think of it like this:
You start with a tree:
木
It starts growing a second branch above the first:
未
At this stage, it’s still shorter than the first branch, so it’s not yet full grown.
So it grows longer:
末
Now the new branch is longer than the old branch, so it’s reached the end of its growth.
Etymologically, the 未 kanji itself is actually a pictogram of a tree with extra branches, though the connection to the meaning “not yet” is less clear - various Western writers have suggested the word is a fusion of 無 “not” with 既 “already”, but I’m not sure where the 未 kanji enters into the conversation.
The sheep thing is because 未 is also used to represent the sheep in the Chinese zodiac. All the zodiac signs are represented by kanji that seem otherwise unrelated. Don’t ask me why.
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Thank you! This answer really helps. There is hope after all.
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