What Are Mnemonics?
A mnemonic, or a mnemonic device, is a pattern in letters, sounds, or ideas that helps you
remember something—in this case, vocabulary. Mnemonics can be a powerful tool when it
comes to remembering the meanings of words and incorporating those words into your
vocabulary. Whether you realize it or not, you use mnemonics all the time. When you make up a
little game to remember your locker combination or a friend’s birthday, for example, you’re
using a mnemonic.
How Do Mnemonics Work?
All mnemonics work in the same way—by helping you to associate what you’re trying to
remember with something that you already know, or with something that is easier to memorize.
Patterns and rhymes are easy to memorize, which explains why so many mnemonics use them.
Incidentally, this may also explain why rhyming became a part of poetry. The earliest poets and
balladeers didn’t write down their compositions because many didn’t know how to write.
Instead, they memorized them, a task made easier by (among other things) the rhymes at the
end of lines.
Don’t worry; we’re not suggesting that you mentally compose a poem about every new word
you learn. Our strategy involves associating a word with a mental image that will, in turn, help
you remember the definition of the word. Let’s take the word abridge, for example, which
means to shorten or condense. What image pops into your mind when you think of the word
abridge? That’s easy: a bridge. Now you need to picture something happening on or to that
bridge that will help you remember the meaning of the word abridge. Your goal is to create a
vivid and memorable image in your mind so that the next time you encounter abridge in your
reading, you’ll instantly remember what it means.
To be useful, your image should have something to do with the meaning of the word rather than
merely with the way it sounds or looks. If you merely think of a bridge when you see abridge,
you won’t help yourself remember the meaning of the word. What you need is an image that
suggests shortening or condensing: a dinosaur taking a big bite out of the middle of a bridge?
Carpenters sawing it? The image you choose is up to you.
Let’s take another word: gregarious, which means sociable, enjoying the company of others.
What image springs to mind? Really think now.
Can’t think of an image? Be creative. A party animal is gregarious. How about imagining a party
animal named Greg Arious? Don’t stop with his name. You need a picture. So give Greg a
funny hat, a noisemaker, and some polka-dot dancing shoes. Or put a lampshade on his head.
Think of something that will make you think of sociability the next time you see Greg’s name in a
book or a magazine. The more real you make Greg Arious seem in your imagination, the less
trouble you’ll have remembering the meaning of gregarious.