You might remember the meaning of the character 燕 with this easy mnemonic:
There's an injured swallow in the street, go pick it up with two hands (廾) and give him one (一) drop of water in its mouth (口). Feed it with a spoon (匕) and leave some fire kindling (灬) beside it for warmth.
Using mnemonics to remember the meaning of Chinese characters like has a huge impact on how long to learn Mandarin it takes.