Radical 丶

4 strokes

為

power 力 (14) + a drop 丶 (22a) + a drop 丶 (22a) = act as; for 为

By now you’ll be familiar with the idea of using film set stories for characters with two meanings and two pronunciations (which differ only in tone). In future we’ll rely on the film icon to signal them for you.

Note that the stroke order for the “power” part of this character is non-standard. This is because it is inherited from the traditional form (shown in the box). Compare this with the stroke order for Character 123 which follows.

为了 (66) wèile for, because of

以为 (120) yǐwéi think (wrongly)

为什么 (35, 34) wèishénme why, what for

The potion which confers great power from only a couple of drops is the Gauls’ magic potion in the film of “asterix”. On the film set the main actor has to act as if he is strong. / The fairy conjures up fake weights for him to lift. The dwarf grumbles as he carries the weights. \ “Why does somebody have to carry these things around for him?”