List of mnemonics

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)

See also: Planetary mnemonic

Mean Very Evil Men Just Shortened Up Nature

obsolete (per the IAU definition of planet):

My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pickles

Biology

See also: Taxonomy mnemonic

• 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. 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".
  • Do Kings Play Chess On Fine Green Silk?
  • Dumb Kids Prefer Cheese Over Fried Green Spinach
  • Do Kindly Place Cover On Fresh Green Spring Vegetables
  • Donald Kills People Cause Other Friends Get Sad
• To remember the processes that define living things:
  • MRS GREN: Movement; Respiration; Sensation; Growth; Reproduction; Excretion; Nutrition
• To remember the number of humps on types of camels:
  • D in Dromedary has one hump; B in Bactrian has two

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%)

See also: 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

• 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".

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
• Paleozoic to Cenozoic: Pregnant Camels Ordinarily Sit Down Carefully, Perhaps Their Joints Creak

• Mohs scale of mineral hardness 1-10:

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
• TAll GYroscopes CAn FLy APart ORbiting QUickly TO COmplete DIsintegration
• Toronto Girls Can Flirt And Only Quit To Chase Dwarves
• Terrible Giants Can Find Alligators Or Quaint Trolls Conveniently Digestible

• Differentiating stalactites from stalagmites.
  • 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. (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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
• Wives of Henry VIII names: Aragon, Boleyn, Seymour, Cleves, Howard, Parr

• All Boys Should Come Home Please

Languages

Grammar

• Adjective order in English: OSASCOMP (Opinion, Size, Age, Shape, Color, Origin, Material, Purpose)
• The verbs in French that use the auxiliary verb être 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

Mathematics

See also: Mental_calculation, Piphilology, and e (mathematical constant)

Quadratic equation

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

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.
Order of Operations
PEMDAS
Please - Parenthesis
Excuse - Exponents
My - Multiplication
Dear - Division
Aunt - Addition
Sally - Subtraction

Medicine

Main article: List of medical mnemonics

See also: Category:Medical mnemonics

• To remember the 10 organ systems of the human body:
  • NICER DRUMS (Nervous, Integumentary, Circulatory, Endocrine, Respiratory, Digestive, Reproductive, Urinary, Muscular, Skeletal)
• 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:
  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

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

NERVE:	Olfactory nerve	Optic nerve	Oculomotor nerve	Pathic (Trochlear) 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)	OLd	OPen	OCeans	TROuble	TRIbesmen			ABout	Fish	VEnom	Giving	VArious	ACute / SPlitting	Headaches
TYPE:	Sensory	Sensory	Motor	Motor	Both (sensory + motor)			Motor	Both	Sensory	Both	Both	Motor	Motor
Mnemonic: (for type)	Some	Say	Money	Matters,	But			My	Brother	Says	Big	Brains	Matter	More
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.

Music

Guitar

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

• 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

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.
• 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

Key signatures of C♯ major or A♯ minor (left) and C♭ major or A♭ minor (right)

• 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.
• 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.
• 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

Main article: List of physics mnemonics

• 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"

• Speed of light

A less accurate yet approximate mnemonic for the speed of light which is 299,792,458 m/s uses a rounded up value as 300,000,000 m/s i.e 3 x 10 10⁸meters(metres) per second. The mnemonic is "it's outrunning darkness in meet us per second". Here the units are given phonetically i.e meet us per second,which is a play on meters per second and indicates meeting or motion or speed towards a point.Thus using exponentiation or scientific notation It's(3) x outrunning(10)^8(darkness)meters(meet us) per second. In essence light is outrunning darkness. Outrunning clearly shows speed. Obviously the apostrope in "it's" is not counted

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, 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 (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.

• SECRETARY

A secretary must keep a secret

• TEACHER

There is an ache in every teacher.

• MEASUREMENT

Be sure of your measurements before you start work.

• FRIEND

Fri the end of your friend

• SPECIAL

The CIA have special agents

• BEAUTIFUL

Big Elephants Are Ugly

• 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!!!”

• 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’.

• 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

• 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

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

• ARITHMETIC

A Rat In The House May Eat The Ice Cream

A Red Indian Thought He Might Eat Tulips In Class

• 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 Cause Accidents Under Small Elephants

Big Elephants Can't Always Use Small Exits

Big Elephants Can’t Always Use Small Entrances

Because e Cannot Always (get) Under Smaller es

• 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

• "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).
• "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.

• Aviation uses many mnemonics in addition to written checklists. See also Category: Aviation mnemonics

• 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

• 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

See also

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

Further reading

• Evans, Rod L. (2007). Every good boy deserves fudge : the book of mnemonic devices (1st ed.). New York, N.Y.: Perigee. ISBN 978-0-399-53351-8.
• Parkinson, Judy (2008). I before E (except after C) : old-school ways to remember stuff. Pleasantville, N.Y.: Reader's Digest Association. 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
• Medical mnemonics
• Searchable database of Medical mnemonics
• Mnemonics generator for numbers
• Collection of Mnemonics
• Collection of Mnemonics by Category
• Community website to collaborate and create new mnemonics