It seems this new series is very well-received by my regular readers on this website! Let's get on with the second of the series, with this character 艮 gěn。
艮 gěn means ''stillness'' or ''stopping'', it is 6 strokes and is one of the 214 radicals.
艮 gěn is the seventh of the Taoist Ba Gua trigrams (guacosmology), it is also the 52nd hexagram of the I Ching. There is no top stroke if you compare with the common 良 Liáng (as it is commonly confused with).
Photo Courtesy of the Nationals Online, Bagua
There are consequences when you use 艮 gěn with a different radical incorrectly. The easiest way to remember is the sounding of 良 Liáng which has the additional top stroke. With the female radical on its left is the resultant character: 娘
娘 niáng is Mother, or as in 新娘 Xīn niáng(which is the Bride)
With the 犬 radical, or犭on its left
The resulting chinese character is 狼 Láng which means Wolf.
So 艮 gěn is different. The easiest way to remember is the contrast of this character 狠 Hěn which means 'Ruthless'.
When it is with the radical 足 ⻊ foot radical. The resultant is 跟 and this means to follow.
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