熊 (xióng): bear (animal)

Measure Word

一只熊 zhǐ

Meanings

1 bear (animal)
2 to scold; to berate (colloquial)
3 weak; useless; cowardly (colloquial)

Characters

熊

xiong

bear (animal)

Examples

大熊猫是中国的国宝。

Dàxióngmāo shì Zhōngguó de guóbǎo.

The giant panda is China's national treasure.

他被老板熊了一顿。

Tā bèi lǎobǎn xióng le yí dùn.

He got scolded by the boss.

别那么熊，勇敢一点！

Bié nàme xióng, yǒnggǎn yìdiǎn!

Don't be such a coward, be braver!

森林里有很多熊。

Sēnlín lǐ yǒu hěnduō xióng.

There are many bears in the forest.

Tips

usage

The colloquial meanings are very common in northern China. 熊孩子 (xióng háizi) = 'bratty kid' — a wildly popular internet term for misbehaving children.

Components

radical

灬 huǒ

fire radical (bottom form)

Bottom radical 灬 is the four-dot bottom-form of 火 (fire). In 熊 it does not carry a literal 'fire' meaning — instead it serves as a graphic disambiguator added when 能 was rededicated to 'able'. The 灬 marker is what distinguishes the bear from the modal verb.

phonetic

能 néng

able; can

Top phonetic 能 supplies the sound — néng shifted to xióng through onset and rime drift, a long-distance change. 能 itself was originally a pictograph of a bear (the head 厶, body 月, and four legs 匕匕). When 能 was reborrowed for 'able, capable', a 火/灬 radical was added below to preserve the original 'bear' meaning — yielding modern 熊.