岛

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island; CL:個|个[ge4],座[zuo4]

Sound it out + =

Formation & memory

Break the character into parts you already know.

Ideographic compound (会意字)

A bird 鸟 perched atop a mountain 山

Components 鸟山

island · Heisig RSH #1442

鸟 bird + 山 mountain

Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.

The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
海岛市	Hǎi dǎo shì	Municipality of the Islands (Macau); Concelho das Ilhas
西西里岛	Xī xī lǐ Dǎo	Sicily
克里特岛	Kè lǐ tè Dǎo	Crete
人工岛	rén gōng dǎo	artificial island
关岛大学	Guān Dǎo Dà xué	University of Guam
马达加斯加岛	Mǎ dá jiā sī jiā Dǎo	Madagascar
金门岛	Jīn mén Dǎo	Kinmen or Quemoy islands off the Fujian coast, administered by Taiwan
克基拉岛	Kè jī lā Dǎo	Corfu (Greek: Kerkira), island in the Ionian sea
海南岛	Hǎi nán Dǎo	Hainan Island, China's southernmost province, off the coast of Guangdong
黄岛区	Huáng dǎo Qū	Huangdao, a district of Qingdao City 青島市\|青岛市[Qing1 dao3 Shi4], Shandong
罗得斯岛	Luó dé sī Dǎo	Rhodes, Mediterranean island
火山岛	huǒ shān dǎo	volcanic island
河心岛	hé xīn dǎo	river island
岛国	dǎo guó	island nation (sometimes refers specifically to Japan)
中岛	Zhōng dǎo	Nakajima or Nakashima (Japanese surname and place name)
岛国动作片	dǎo guó dòng zuò piàn	euphemism for Japanese porn movie
罗德岛	Luó dé Dǎo	Rhode Island, US state; Rhodes, an island of Greece
小岛	Xiǎo dǎo	Kojima (Japanese surname and place name)
小岛	xiǎo dǎo	isle
波拉波拉岛	Bō lā Bō lā Dǎo	Bora Bora, island of the Society Islands group in French Polynesia

These characters use 岛 as their sound component — compare how they read.

Character	Pinyin	Meaning
岛 sound part	dǎo	island
捣	dǎo	to thresh, to pound; to stir, to disturb; to attack