List of mnemonics

This article contains lists of some common mnemonics.

See also: List of visual mnemonics

Phrasal and rhyming mnemonics

Science and technology

Astronomy

• Order of Planets from the Sun

Main article: Planetary mnemonic

My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune)

Many Very Educated Men Justify Stealing Unique Ninth

obsolete:

My Very Easy Method Just Speeds Up Naming Planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto)

My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pies

Taxonomy

• To remember the order of taxa in biology:
  • Dumb Kids Playing Catch On Freeway Get Squashed. (Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species)
  • "Dear King Philip Came Over For Good Spaghetti" is often cited as a (clean) method for teaching students to memorize the taxonomic classification system. 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."

Meteorology

• "Richard of York gave battle in vain" to remember the colours in order in a rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet).
• The fictitious name Roy G. Biv is also used to remember the order of the colours of the rainbow.

Chemistry

• "My Enormous Penguin Bounces Pretty High" to remember the series of alkanes : Methane, Ethane, Propane, Butane, Pentane, Hexane
• "Please Send Cats, Monkeys And Zebras In Large Cages Make Sure Padlocked" to remember the reactivity of metals : Potassium Sodium Calcium Magnesium Aluminum Zinc Iron Lead Copper Mercury Silver Platinum.
• Harry He Likes Beer Bottle Cold, Not Over Frothy. Nelly's Nanny Might, Although Silly Person, She Climbs Around Kinky Caves; for the first 20 Elements of the Periodic Table. (Hydrogen, Helium, Lithium, Beryllium, Boron, Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Fluorine, Neon, Sodium, Magnesium, Aluminium, Silicon, Phosphorus, Sulphur, Chlorine, Argon, Potassium, Calcium.)

Computing

OSI Model

There are many mnemonics for the seven layers of the OSI Model in computing. Physical / Data Link / Network / Transport / Session / Presentation / Application

Because the layers are numbered from the bottom-up, many mnemonics have been developed in both directions,and from the top-down and from the bottom-up.

• Please Do Not Throw Sausage Pizza Away starts at layer 1 (the bottom),
• as does Programmers Like Networks That Seldom Postpone Anything.
• Another commonly used mnemonic starts with layer 7; All People Seem To Need Data Processing.

Geology

• Vertical mineral deposits in caves:
  • 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. (Note: 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.
  • 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.
  • NESW (North, East, South, West) Never Eat Soggy Wheatbix, Never Eat Shreaded Wheat, Naughty Elephants Squirt Water

Medicine

• Intrinsic muscles of hand

'A OF A OF A'

Thenar (lateral to medial-palmar surface):

    Abductor pollicis brevis
    Opponens pollicis
    Flexor pollicis brevis
    Adductor pollicis

Hypothenar (lateral to medial-palmar surface):

    Opponens digiti minimi
    Flexor digiti minimi
    Abductor digiti minimi

• Bones of the wrist:

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

Simplly Learn The Positions That The Carpus Has

• Differential Diagnosis

VINDICATE

• Cranial nerves
  Main article: List of mnemonics for the cranial nerves

List of mnemonics for the cranial nerves, their respective type and foramen

NERVE:	Olfactory nerve	Optic nerve	Oculomotor nerve	Trochlear (pathic) nerve	Trigeminal (dentist) nerve			Abducens nerve	Facial nerve	Vestibulo-cochlear (Auditory) nerve	Glosso-pharyngeal nerve	Vagus nerve	Spinal Accessory nerve	Hypoglossal nerve
					Ophthalmic	Maxillary	Mandibular
Mnemonic: (for nerve)	On	Old	Olympus'	Towering	Top			A	Finn	And	German	Viewed	Some	Hops
TYPE:	Sensory	Sensory	Motor	Motor	Both (sensory + motor)			Motor	Both	Sensory	Both	Both	Motor	Motor
Mnemonic: (for type)	Some	Say	Marry	Money,	But			My	Brother	Says	Big	Business	Makes	Money
FORAMINA:	Cribriform plate	Optic canal	Superior Orbital Fissure	Superior Orbital Fissure	Superior Orbital Fissure	Foramen Rotundum	Foramen Ovale	Superior Orbital Fissure	Internal Acoustic Meatus	Internal Acoustic Meatus	Jugular Foramen	Jugular Foramen	Jugular Foramen	Hypoglossal Canal
Mnemonics: (for foramina)	Cleaners	Only	Spray	Smelly	Stuff	Right	On	Smelly	Idiots	In	Jumbled	Junkyards	Juggled	High
	Carl	Only	Swims	South.	Silly	Roger	Only	Swims	In	Infiniti	Jacuzzis.	Jane	Just	Hitchhikes.

Engineering

• A mnemonic to remember which way to turn common (right-handed) screws and nuts, including light bulbs, is "Righty tighty, lefty loosey"; another is "right on, left off"
• For EIA electronic color code: Bad beer rots our young guts but vodka goes well – get some now 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%)

Mathematics

Calculus

• For remembering the order of taking the derivative of a quotient in calculus, the phrase "lo-di-hi minus hi-di-lo all over lo squared" can be useful, where lo means the bottom, hi means the top, and di means the derivative. So,

${\frac {d}{dx}}{\frac {hi}{lo}}={\frac {lo\cdot hi'-hi\cdot lo'}{lo^{2}}}$

Another phrase that one may use is: "Bottom d Top, Top d bottom", where "d" stands for derivative (note that this mnemonic does not include the crucial dividing by the bottom squared). Another phrase memorable for sounding like a square dance is "low d high less high d low, draw the line and square below."

Order of Operations

PEMDAS- Parenthesis, Exponents, Multiplication & Division, Addition & Subtraction can be remembered by the phrase: "Please excuse my dear Aunt Sally."

Geography and chronology

• How to set your clock to accommodate the shift to and from daylight saving time: "Spring forward. Fall back" or "Spring ahead, Fall behind."
• To remember which direction Latitude and Longtitude are: Latus is Latin for side - latitude lines go from side to side (EW). Longitude lines seem longer (top to bottom, NS). Remember "Lat is Fat" - Latitude goes around the equator belt.
• To remember the Great Lakes in order of decreasing surface area, use : "Super Heroes Must Eat Oats". (Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie, Ontario)
• To remember the Great Lakes in anyway use : "HOMES". (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior)
• To remember the Great Lakes in order from west to east: Super man helps every one (Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, Ontario)
• For the streets running east and west in downtown Seattle, running south to north: "Jesus Christ Made Seattle Under Pressure" (Jefferson/James, Cherry/Columbia, Marion/Madison, Spring/Seneca, University/Union, Pike/Pine)
• To remember the compass directions. Starting at the top and going clockwise: "Never Eat Soggy Waffles."

Physics

• Color code for Resistor

Main article: List of electronic color code mnemonics

Big brown rabbits often yield great big vocal groans when gingerly slapped

Bad boys run our young girls behind victory garden walls (bad → black, boys → brown, but → blue)

for the colors Black, Brown, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet, Grey, White, Gold, Silver respectively

• Microwave frequency bands

Mnemonic for microwave frequency bands in the increasing wave lengths (decreasing frequencies), which are Ku band, X band, C band, S band, L band, respectively is given by,

"King Xerces Can Seduce Lovely Princesses"

Units of Measure

• Metric System / SI Prefixes

King Henry Died By Drinking Chocolate Milk.

Stands for: kilo-, hecto-, deca-, base unit, deci-, centi-, milli-, in descending order of magnitude. As in centigram, deciliter, meter, etc. Mnemonic's acronym is KHDBdcm.

Also, King Henry Doesn't Mind Dusting Clean Money.

Language

Pronunciation

• The pronunciation and lexical ordering of the Japanese vowels:

Ah we soon get old

AIUEO

• Common vowel sounds for several languages including Spanish and Esperanto (one sound per letter):

Pa let me go too (AEIOU)

Spelling

Characteristic Sequence of Letters

• I always comes before E(but after C, E comes before I

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 and weigh

And "weird" is just weird

• 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(But this is violated by some words; see:List of English words containing Q not followed by U

• When two vowels go walking the first does the talking

For words like "oat" or "eat", here the second letter a is silent and first letter o and e respectively are pronounced in the examples

Letters of Specific syllables in a Word

• BELIEVE

There is a lie in believe

• SECRETARY

A secretary must keep a secret

• TEACHER

There is an ache in every teacher.

• MEASUREMENT

You should be sure of your measurements before you start work.

• FRIEND

A friend is always there when the end comes.

Fri the end of your friend

• SPECIAL

The CIA have special agents

• BEAUTIFUL

Big Elephants Are Ugly

• SLAUGHTER

Slaughter is laughter with an S at the beginning.

• SEPARATE

Always smell a rat when you spell separate

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

Distinguish 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’.

• Here or Hear

We hear with our ear.

• Complement and Compliment

complement adds something to make it enough

compliment puts you in the limelight

• Principle and Principal

Your principal is your pal

A rule can be called a principle

• Sculpture and Sculptor

A sculpture is a kind of picture

• Stationary and stationery

Stationery contains er and so does paper; stationary (not moving) contains ar and so does car

First Letter Mnemonics of Spelling

• DIARRHOEA

Dining In A Rough Restaurant: Hurry, Otherwise Expect Accidents!

Diarrhoea Is A Really Runny Heap Of Endless Amounts

• ARITHMETIC

A Rat In The House May Eat The Ice Cream

• NECESSARY

Not Every Cat Eats Sardines (Some Are Really Yummy)

Never Eat Crisps, Eat Salad Sandwiches, And Remain Young!

• BECAUSE

Big Elephants Can Always Understand Small Elephants

Big Elephants Can’t Always Use Small Entrances

• MNEMONICS

Mnemonics Now Erase Man's Oldest Nemesis, Insufficient Cerebral Storage

• GEOGRAPHY

George's Elderly Old Grandfather Rode A Pig Home Yesterday.

• TOMORROW

Trails Of My Old Red Rose Over Window

• RHYTHM

Rhythm Helps Your Two Hips Move

Transportation

• Marine

• The phrase "there's always some red port (wine) left" is used to remember the basics in seafaring.

• Aviation uses many mnemonics in addition to written checklists.

• 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)

Numeric mnemonics

Science

Astronomy

• In Have Spacesuit Will Travel, Robert A. Heinlein includes 'prices' which represent the mean AU (Astronomical Unit - mean distance of the Earth from the Sun = 93 million miles = 149 million km) of all the planets from the sun:

• MERCURY $0.39
• VENUS $0.72
• EARTH $1.00
• MARS $1.50
• ASTEROIDS (assorted prices, unimportant)
• JUPITER $5.20
• SATURN $9.50
• URANUS $19.00
• NEPTUNE $30.00
• PLUTO $39.50

• Oh Be A Fine Girl / Guy, Kiss Me: the main sequence (O B A F G K M).

Mathematics

See also: Piphilology and e (mathematical constant)

Physics

• The phrase "We guarantee certainty, clearly referring to this light mnemonic." represents the speed of light in meters per second through the number of letters in each word: 299,792,458.

Humanities

History

• 543210 is a mnemonic for the date when prohibition was lifted in Finland: 5th April (4th month) 1932 at 10 in the morning (local time).

Philosophy

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

Other

Science and technology

Chronology

• The rhyme Thirty days hath September is commonly used as a mnemonic for the number of days in the months of the year.

Thirty days hath September,

April, June, and November;

All the rest have thirty-one,

Save February, with twenty-eight days clear,

And twenty-nine each leap year.

Music

Guitar

• Mnemonics is used also in remembering guitar string names in standard tuning.

• Eddy Ate Dynamite Good Bye Eddy
• Every Adult Dog Growls Barks Eats.
• Easter Angels Don't Give Broken Eggs
• Every Average Dude Gets Better Eventually

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:

• Elvis' Big Great Dane Ate Everything

Reading music

• Musicians can remember the notes associated with the five lines of the treble clef using any of the following mnemonics: (from the bottom line to the top) Every Good Boy Does Fine.

Every Good Boy Deserves Footie

Every Good Boy Deserves Food

Every Green Bogey Deserves Flicking

• The four spaces of the treble clef spell out (from the bottom to the top) FACE.

Internal letters

As well as first-letter mnemonics, some mnemonics employ internal letters of words:

Science and technology

Geology

• For differentiating stalactites and stalagmites.

• (Stalac)tights hang down

Think of Tights "hanging" on a washing line (stalac-tights).

• Stalac(T)ites are on the (T)op of the cave.

• Which one is spelt with a C and which with a G?

StalaGmites - G - from the Ground

StalaCtites - C - from the Ceiling

• Tights hang from the Ceiling, and Mites crawling around on the Ground

• Eras of life

The eras are Precambrian, Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous:

• Pregnant Camels Ordinarily Sit Down Carefully . Perhaps Their Joints Creak

• Mineral Hardness scale 1-10:

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

Mineral Hardness scale 1-10:

• Toronto Girls Can Flirt And Only Quit To Chase Dwarves .
• Terrible Giants Can Find Alligators Or Quaint Trolls Conveniently Digestible
• Tall Girls Can Flirt And Other Queer Things Can Do!

Language

Onomasty

• Given names (masculine and feminine):

Francis (him) and Frances (her)

Don (son) and Dawn (daughter)

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
• Medical mnemonics
• Searchable database of Medical mnemonics
• Mnemonics generator for numbers