happening / instance / reason / cause / intentional / former / old / friend / therefore / hence / (of people) to die, dead

= + : Mnemonic symbol: This character only appears in 做, so we don't need a strong mnemonic symbol. We should be able to refer to 故 when we think of 故事 or 故意. Because it fits nicely to its components, I'll think of it as in the meaning of 故墓, an old grave.

= + : There is an ancient cloister in the space station's bathroom, and Gitta Giraffe once heard a story from her fellow astronauts that there's an old tomb inside with lots of treasure. One day she can't hold herself back anymore and deliberately breaks the cloister open using a sledgehammer.

故 character breakdown

surname Gu
ancient / old / paleo-

= + : Mnemonic symbol: at least on German maps, this character actually resembles a cloister.

Oh no! Gitta Giraffe (gu) found that the golden cross (十) broke off of the cloister (古) in the space station's living room (Ø3)! She skewers a mandarin (口) on top of the cloister so that she can skewer the broken off cross back on to fix it.
variant of 攴[pu1]

= 𠂉 + : Mnemonic symbol: the epitome of rapping and tapping is a sledge hammer. Petra pinguin (pu) forgot her key (𠂉) and know she's locked out of the space station (Ø1). At first she tries to open the lock with pliers (乂), but in the end she has no choice but to use the sledge hammer (攵).

Characters with 故 as component

to make; to produce / to write; to compose / to do; to engage in; to hold (a party etc) / (of a person) to be (an intermediary, a good student etc); to become (husband and wife, friends etc) / (of a thing) to serve as; to be used for / to assume (an air or manner)

= + : In observatory's bathroom, Zapatista Zebra uses the well in the middle of the room as an old tomb and throws a dead Rosa Luxemburg inside to hide her corpse.

Words with 故

what for? / what's the reason?
classical story or quote from the literature / the story behind sth
to find an excuse
back to where we were (idiom); absolutely no improvement / Things haven't changed at all.
lit. to breathe out stale air and breathe in fresh (idiom, from Zhuangzi 莊子|庄子[Zhuang1 zi3]); fig. to get rid of the old and bring in the new
meeting an old friend in a foreign place (idiom)
variant of 緣故|缘故[yuan2 gu4]
to be one's old self (idiom) / to be unchanged / (derog.) to be stuck in one's ways
accident causing injury or death
fellow countryman (from the same village) / the folks back home
industrial accident / work-related injury

Sentences with 故

故 currently does not appear in any sentence.