1. Astronomy

2. Biology

3. Engineering

4. Geography

5. Geology

6. History

7. Languages
    Grammar 

8. Mathematics
    Quadratic equation  Mathematical operations 

9. Medicine

10. Music
     Guitar  Ukulele  Reading music 

11. Philosophy

12. Physics

13. Spelling
     Characteristic sequence of letters  Letters of specific syllables in a word  Distinguishing between similar words  First letter mnemonics of spelling 

14. Transportation

15. Units of measure

16. See also

17. References

18. Further reading

19. External links

This article contains lists of mnemonics used to remember various objects, lists etc.

Astronomy

• Order of planets from the Sun (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto)

Most Vegetables Eat More Juice So Usually Never Pee^[1]

obsolete (per the IAU definition of planet):

My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Potatoes^[1]

Many Vicious Elelphants Met Just Slightly Under New Pineapples^[1]

Biology

• To remember the order of taxa in biology (Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species, [Variety]):
  • "Dear King Philip Came Over For Good Soup" is often cited as a non-vulgar method for teaching students to memorize the taxonomic classification system.^[2][3] Other variations tend to start with the mythical king, with one author noting "The nonsense about King Philip, or some ribald version of it, has been memorized by generations of biology students".^[4]
  • Do Kings Play Chess On Fine Green Silk?^[7]{{rp|69}}
  • Dumb Kids Prefer Cheese Over Fried Green Spinach^[7]{{rp|69}}
  • Do Kindly Place Cover On Fresh Green Spring Vegetables^[7]{{rp|69}}
  • Damn Kernal Panics Crash Our Family Game System^[5]
• To remember the processes that define living things:
  • MRS GREN: Movement; Respiration; Sensation; Growth; Reproduction; Excretion; Nutrition^[7]{{rp|135}}^[6]
• To remember the number of humps on types of camels:^[7]{{rp|67}}^[7]
  • D in Dromedary has one hump; B in Bactrian has two
• To distinguish color patterns between the harmless king snake and the poisonous coral snake
  • Red next to black is a friend of Jack. Red next to yellow will kill a fellow.

Engineering

• For the EIA electronic color code, Black(0), Brown(1), Red(2), Orange(3), Yellow(4), Green(5), Blue(6), Violet(7), Gray(8), White(9), Gold(5%), Silver(10%), None(20%)

Big brown rabbits often yield great big vocal groans when gingerly slapped^[8]

Bad boys run our young girls behind victory garden walls^[9]

B .B Roy [of] Great Britain [has] Very Good Wife.

• A mnemonic to remember which way to turn common (right-hand thread) screws and nuts, including light bulbs, is "Righty-tighty, Lefty-loosey"; another is "Right on, Left off".^[10]{{rp|165}}

Geography

• The countries of South America in order of largest to smallest by area: Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, Venezuela, Chile, Paraguay, Ecuador, Guyana, Uruguay, Suriname
• Boring, Average Politics Can Become Very Corrupt. People Everywhere Get Used Sometimes

• The Great Lakes in order of largest to smallest: Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie, Ontario
• SuperHeroes Must Eat Oats

• The principle thoroughfares of Soho, London, in order from East to West: Greek Street, Frith Street, Dean Street and Wardour Street. Employed for navigation purposes by those sampling the pleasures of the numerous local establishments.^[11]
• Good Friends Drink Well

Geology

• Geological periods: Precambrian, Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Paleocene, Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, Pliocene, Pleistocene, Recent (Holocene)
• Pregnant Camels Often Sit Down Carefully, Perhaps Their Joints Creak? Possibly Early Oiling Might Prevent Permanent Rheumatism^[10]{{rp|62–63}}
• Paleozoic to Cenozoic: Pregnant Camels Ordinarily Sit Down Carefully, Perhaps Their Joints Creak^[12]

• Mohs scale of mineral hardness 1-10:^[13]

For Talc(=1) Gypsum(=2) Calcite(=3) Fluorite(=4) Apatite(=5) Orthoclase(=6) Quartz(=7) Topaz(=8) Corundum(=9) Diamond(=10)

• Tall Girls Can Fight And Other Queer Things Can Develop^[10]{{rp|64}}
• TAll GYroscopes CAn FLy APart ORbiting QUickly TO COmplete DIsintegration^[10]{{rp|64}}
• Toronto Girls Can Flirt And Only Quit To Chase Dwarves
• Terrible Giants Can Find Alligators Or Quaint Trolls Conveniently Digestible

• Differentiating stalactites from stalagmites.^[14]
  • The 'mites go up and the 'tites come down. When one has ants in one's pants, the mites go up and the tights come down.^[10]{{rp|66}} (In a strict scientific sense, a mite is not an ant, although "mite" in common speech can refer to any small creature.)
  • Stalactites hang tight, hang down like tights on a line; stalagmites might bite (if you sit on them), might reach the roof.^[10]{{rp|66}}
  • Tights hang from the Ceiling, and Mites crawling around on the Ground
  • You need might to do push-ups (from the floor). You must hold tight doing chin-ups (off the ceiling).
  • Stalactites are on the ceiling. Stalagmites are on the ground.^[10]{{rp|66}}
  • Stalactites cling tight to the ceiling; stalagmites might reach the ceiling.

History

• Wives of Henry VIII manner of death: Divorced, beheaded, died / Divorced, beheaded, survived.^[10]{{rp|104}}
• Wives of Henry VIII names: Aragon, Boleyn, Seymour, Cleves, Howard, Parr
• All Boys Should Come Home Please^[10]{{rp|103}}

Languages

Grammar

• Adjective order in English: OSASCOMP (Opinion, Size, Age, Shape, Color, Origin, Material, Purpose)^[15]
• The verbs in French that use the auxiliary verb être in the compound past can be memorized using the phrase "Dr. (and) Mrs. Vandertramp":

devenir, revenir, monter, rester, sortir, venir, aller, naître, descendre, entrer, rentrer, tomber, retourner, arriver, mourir, partir^[16]

Mathematics

Quadratic equation

The articulation of the quadratic equation can be sung to the tune of various songs as a mnemonic device.^[17]

Mathematical operations

For helping students in remembering the rules in adding and multiplying two signed numbers, Balbuena and Buayan (2015) made the letter strategies LAUS (like signs, add; unlike signs, subtract) and LPUN (like signs, positive; unlike signs, negative), respectively.^[18]

Please - Parenthesis

Excuse - Exponents

My - Multiplication

Dear - Division

Aunt - Addition

Sally - Subtraction

Pineapples - Parenthesis

Eat - Exponents

Mangoes - Multiplication

During - Division

Autumn - Addition

Season - Subtraction

Medicine

• To remember the signs of a stroke:
  • Act FAST
  • Face (Has the victim's face fallen on one side?)
  • Arms (Can the victim raise both arms and keep them raised?)
  • Speech (Is the victim's speech slurred? Can they repeat a simple sentence?)
  • Time (It is time to contact emergency services.)

• To remember the 10 organ systems of the human body:^[19]
  • NICER DRUMS (Nervous, Integumentary, Circulatory, Endocrine, Respiratory, Digestive, Reproductive, Urinary, Muscular, Skeletal)
• Intrinsic muscles of hand^[20]

'A OF A OF A'

Thenar (lateral to medial-palmar surface):

 '''A'''bductor pollicis brevis     '''O'''pponens pollicis     '''F'''lexor pollicis brevis     '''A'''dductor pollicis

Hypothenar (lateral to medial-palmar surface):

 '''O'''pponens digiti minimi     '''F'''lexor digiti minimi     '''A'''bductor digiti minimi

• Bones of the wrist:
  Scaphoid bone, Lunate bone, Triquetral bone, Pisiform bone, Trapezium (bone), Trapezoid bone, Capitate bone & Hamate bone

Some Lovers Try Positions That They Can't Handle

She Looks Too Pretty Try To Catch Her

So Long To Pinky, Here Comes The Thumb

Simply Learn The Positions That The Carpus Has

Send Louis To Paris To Tame Carnal Hungers

Stop Letting Those People Touch The Cadaver's Hands

• Differential Diagnosis

VINDICATE

• Cranial nerves

Music

Guitar

• Mnemonics are also used in remembering guitar string names in standard tuning.^[23]
• Every Average Dude Gets Better Eventually
• Eggs Are Deliciously Good Breakfast Energy
• Eddy Ate Dynamite Good Bye Eddy
• Every Adult Dog Growls Barks Eats.
• Every Acid Dealer Gets Busted Eventually
• Even After Dinner Giant Boys Eat
• Elephants And Donkeys Grow Big Ears
• Every American Dog Gets Bones Easily
• Every Angel Does Good Before Evil
• Eat All Day Get Big Easy
• Eine Alte Dame Geht Bei Einkaufen (German: an old lady goes shopping)

Thus we get the names of the strings from 6th string to the 1st string in that order.

Conversely, a mnemonic listing the strings in the reverse order is:

• Every Beginning Guitarist Does All Exercises!
• Elvis' Big Great Dane Ate Everything
• Every Big Girl Deserves An Elephant
• Easter Bunny Gets Drunk At Easter

Ukulele

As for guitar tuning, there is also a mnemonic for ukuleles.

• Good Cooks Eat A-lot

• In the other direction it is Aunt Evy Cooks Grits

Reading music

• Musicians can remember the notes associated with the five lines of the treble clef using any of the following mnemonics, EGBDF: (from the bottom line to the top)

• Every Good Boy Does Fine.^[24]
• Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge (or Footie, Friendship, Fun, Fruit, etc.)
• Every Green Bogey Deserves Flicking
• Empty Garbage Before Dad Flips
• Ernie Gave Bert Dead Fish
• Every Good Bird Does Fly
• Elvis's Guitar Broke Down Friday

• The four spaces of the treble clef spell out (from the bottom to the top) FACE
• The five lines of the bass clef from the bottom to the top
• Good Boys Do Fine Always
• Grizzly Bears Don't Fly Airplanes
• Great Basses Dig Fine Altos
• Goblins Bring Death For All

• The four spaces of the bass clef from the bottom to the top
• All Cows Eat Grass
• All Cars Eat Gas

• The five lines of the alto clef from the bottom to the top
• Fat Alley Cat Eats Garbage

• The four spaces of the alto clef from the bottom to the top
• Green Birds Do Fly

• The order of sharps in key signature notation is F♯, C♯, G♯, D♯, A♯, E♯, B♯, which can be remembered using the phrase
• Father Christmas Gave Dad An Electric Blanket.^[25]
• Fat Cats Go Down Alleys Eating Birds.
• Fidel Castro Gets Drunk And Eats Babies.
• Fat Cats Greedy Dogs All Eat Bananas.
• Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle.

• The order of flats is B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭, G♭, C♭, and F♭ (reverse order of sharps), which can be remembered using the phrase:
• Blanket Exploded And Dad Got Cold Feet.^[25]
• Before Eating A Doughnut Get Coffee First.
• Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles Father.

Philosophy

• THE LAD ZAPPA is a mnemonic for the first 11 (and most important) Ionian philosophers: Thales, Heraclitus, Empedocles, Leucippus, Anaximander, Democritus, Zeno, Anaximenes, Protagoras, Parmenides, Anaxagoras .
• THE PLAZA PAD is another mnemonic for the first 11 (and most important) Ionian philosophers: Thales, Heraclitus, Empedocles, Protagoras, Leucippus, Anaximander, Zeno, Anaximenes, Parmenides, Anaxagoras, Democritus.

Physics

• Sequence of colors in a rainbow or visible spectrum (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet):

"Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain"

"Riding On Your Granny's Bike Is Vile"

Roy G. Biv is also used as a fictitious name

• Microwave frequency bands

Mnemonic for microwave frequency bands in the increasing wavelengths (decreasing frequencies), which are Ku band, X band, C band, S band, L band, respectively is given by, King Xerxes Can Seduce Lovely princesses"^[26]

Spelling

Characteristic sequence of letters

• I always comes before E (but after C, E comes before I)^[27][28]

In most words like friend, field, piece, pierce, mischief, thief, tier, it is "i" which comes before "e". But on some words with c just before the pair of e and i, like receive, perceive, "e" comes before "i". This can be remembered by the following mnemonic,

I before E, except after C

But this is not always obeyed as in case of weird and weigh, weight, height, neighbor etc. and can be remembered by extending that mnemonic as given below

I before E, except after C

Or when sounded "A" as in neighbor, weigh and weight

Or when sounded like "eye" as in height

And "weird" is just weird

Another variant, which avoids confusion when the two letters represent different sounds instead of a single sound, as in atheist or being, runs

When it says ee

Put i before e

But not after c

• Where ever there is a Q there is a U too

Most frequently u follows q. e.g.: Que, queen, question, quack, quark, quartz, quarry, quit, Pique, torque, macaque, exchequer. Hence the mnemonic:

Where ever there is a Q there is a U too^[28] (But this is violated by some words; see:List of English words containing Q not followed by U)

Letters of specific syllables in a word

• BELIEVE

Do not believe a lie.^[28]

• SECRETARY

A secretary must keep a secret^[28]

• TEACHER

There is an ache in every teacher.^[28]

• MEASUREMENT

Be sure of your measurements before you start work.^[28]

• FRIEND

Fri the end of your friend^[28]

• SPECIAL

The CIA have special agents^[28]

• BEAUTIFUL

Big Elephants Are Ugly^[29]

• SEPARATE

Always smell a rat when you spell separate^[28]

There was a farmer named Sep and one day his wife saw a rat. She yelled, “Sep! A rat – E!!!”^[30]

• CEMETERY

There are three "e"s buried in "cemetery".

Distinguishing between similar words

• Difference between Advice & Advise, Practice & Practise, Licence & License etc.

Advice, Practice, Licence etc. (those with c) are nouns and Advise, Practise, License etc. are verbs.

One way of remembering this is that the word ‘noun’ comes before the word ‘verb’ in the dictionary; likewise ‘c’ comes before ‘s’, so the nouns are ‘practice, licence, advice’ and the verbs are ‘practise, license, advise’.^[31]

• Here or Hear

We hear with our ear.

• Complement and Compliment

complement adds something to make it enough

compliment puts you in the limelight^[28]

• Principle and Principal

Your principal is your pal

A rule can be called a principle^[30]

• Remedial and Menial

Remedial work is meant to remedy.

Menial work is boring but it's mean (-ial) to complain.

• Their, There and They're

Theirs is not mine even though 'I' is in it.

There is where we'll be.

They're is a contraction of 'they are.'

• Stationary and stationery

Stationery contains er and so does paper; stationary (not moving) contains ar and so does car^[28]

A for "at rest", e for envelope

First letter mnemonics of spelling

• DIARRH(O)EA

Dashing In A Rush, Running Harder (or) Else Accident!

Dining In A Rough Restaurant: Hurry, (otherwise)Expect Accidents!

Diarrhea Is A Really Runny Heap (of) Endless Amounts^[29]

• ARITHMETIC

A Rat In The House May Eat The Ice Cream^[32]

A Red Indian Thought He Might Eat Tulips In Class

• NECESSARY

Not Every Cat Eats Sardines (Some Are Really Yummy)^[32]

Never Eat Crisps, Eat Salad Sandwiches, And Remain Young!^[30]

• BECAUSE

Big Elephants Can Always Understand Small Elephants

Big Elephants Cause Accidents Under Small Elephants

Big Elephants Can't Always Use Small Exits

Big Elephants Can’t Always Use Small Entrances^[32]

Because e Cannot Always (get) Under Smaller es

• MNEMONICS

Mnemonics Now Erase Man's Oldest Nemesis, Insufficient Cerebral Storage^[30]

• GEOGRAPHY

George's Elderly Old Grandfather Rode A Pig Home Yesterday.^[30]

• TOMORROW

Trails Of My Old Red Rose Over Window^[29]

• RHYTHM

Rhythm Helps Your Two Hips Move^[32]

Transportation

• Marine^[33][34]
• "Red, Right, Return" reminds the skipper entering ("returning to") an IALA region B port to keep red markers to the starboard of the vessel. Conversely the opposite convention exists in IALA region A ports, where a similar (but significantly different) mnemonic of "Red on the Right Returning To Sea" can be used.
• The phrase "there's always some red port (wine) left" is used to remember the basics in seafaring. "Red" refers to the color of navigation lights on the port (left) side of a vessel (as opposed to green on the starboard side).^[33]
• "Nuclear Restrictions Constrain Fishing and Sailing, People Say" is used to encode the "order of priority" for which vessels have right of way (earlier in the list has priority over later): Not under command; Restricted; Constrained by draft; Fishing vessel; Sailboat; Powerboat; Seaplane.^[33]

• Aviation^[35] uses many mnemonics in addition to written checklists. See also Category: Aviation mnemonics

• CRAFT - Clearance limit, Route, Altitude, Frequency, Transponder.
• pre-landing: GUMPS - Gas, Undercarriage, Mixture, Propeller, Speed.
• pre-final: MARTHA - Missed (procedure), Altitude (limit), Radios (set), Time (limit), Heading (final), Airspeed (descent)
• pre-high-altitude - FLOWER - Flow (enabled), Lights (test), Oxygen (charged), Water (humidity), Electricity (on), Radio (check)
• pre-flight-paperwork - ARROW - Airworthiness (certificate), Registration, Required (charts), Operating (checklists), Weight and balance
• night collision avoidance: Red, Right, Returning - Red nav light on Right implies target is Returning (closing)
• radio loss Instrument course - CDEF - as Cleared, else Direct to last fix, else as directed to Expect, else as flight plan Filed
• spin recovery - POKER - Power (off), Opposite (full rudder), Klean (flaps, ...), Elevator (briskly forward), Recover (from dive)

Units of measure

• Metric System - common SI Prefixes: kilo-, hecto-, deca-, deci-, centi-, milli-, in descending order of magnitude.
• King Henry Died Drinking Chocolate Milk^[36]
• King Henry Drinks Unusually Dark Chocolate Milk (including the "U" for "Unit", which is ten times bigger than "deci-" and one tenth of "deka-".

• Metric System - other common SI Prefixes: tera-, giga-, mega-, kilo-, centi-, milli-, micro-, nano-, pico-
  • Tony goes mental, kills children, meets many nasty policemen
• Metric System - large SI Prefixes: exa-, peta-, tera-, giga-, mega- kilo-, hecto-, deca-

• Every person that gave me kisses has diarrhea

• Metric System - small SI Prefixes: deci-, centi-, milli-, micro-, nano-, pico-, femto-, atto-

• Dairy cows make milk, not pink fruit, asshole.

• Metric Conversion - common SI Prefixes: kilo-, hecto-, deca-, meters/liters/grams (units of distance, volume or weight?), deci-, centi-, milli-, in descending order of magnitude.
• King Henry Died Many Deaths Counting Money

• United States customary units: No. of feet in mile

• Five Tomatoes: Sounds like Five Two Eight Ohs = 5280 ft in a mile
• Johnny walked from five to eight and said oh my feet = 5280 ft in a mile

See also

• Mnemonic
• List of firefighting mnemonics
• List of visual mnemonics
• Category: Science mnemonics

References

Further reading

• {{cite book|last=Evans|first=Rod L.|title=Every good boy deserves fudge : the book of mnemonic devices|year=2007|publisher=Perigee|location=New York, N.Y.|isbn=978-0-399-53351-8|edition=1st}}
• {{cite book|last1=Parkinson|first1=Judy|title=I before E (except after C) : old-school ways to remember stuff|date=2008|publisher=Reader's Digest Association|location=Pleasantville, N.Y.|isbn=978-0-7621-0917-3}}

External links

• List of hundreds of mnemonics belonging to several topics
• Medical mnemonics pdf (consisting of 22 pages full of) mnemonics on medical topics ordered alphabetically
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090417071727/http://mc.lifehugger.com/ Medical mnemonics]
• Searchable database of Medical mnemonics
• Mnemonics generator for numbers
• [https://www.mnemonic-device.com/ Collection of Mnemonics]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20010302031217/http://www.eudesign.com/mnems/_mnframe.htm Collection of Mnemonics by Category]
• Community website to collaborate and create new mnemonics

• Kamikaze (Razer)
• Kamikaze Taxi
• Kamikaze (video game)
• Kamikaz (rapper)
• Kami, Khuzestan
• Kamiki
• Kamikiria gressitti
• Kamikiria klapperichi
• Kamikita
• Kamikita (disambiguation)
• Kami-Kitazawa Station
• Kamiko
• Kamiko Williams
• Kamik (Pirot)
• Kami-Kumagaya Station
• Kamikyokutachi
• Kamikōchi Line
• Kamila Andini
• Kamil Abdul Rahim
• Kamila Gafurzyanova
• Kamila Gainetdinova
• Kamila Gaynetdinova
• Kamil Ahmet Corekci
• Kamil Ahmet Çörekçi
• Kamila Kerimbayeva