凶 (xiōng) · fierce; ferocious; violent

Meanings

1 fierce; ferocious; violent
2 terrible; fearsome
3 inauspicious; ominous

Characters

凶

xiōng

fierce; ferocious; violent

Examples

HSK 2

老师今天看起来很凶。

Lǎoshī jīntiān kànqǐlái hěn xiōng.

The teacher looks scary today.

HSK 5

那条狗很凶，别靠近。

Nà tiáo gǒu hěn xiōng, bié kàojìn.

That dog is very fierce - don't get close.

HSK 5

她发起脾气来很凶。

Tā fāqǐ píqi lái hěn xiōng.

She's really fierce when she gets angry.

Tips

usage

凶 describes people, animals, or expressions that are intimidating or aggressive. For weather or situations, 厉害 is more natural.

usage

The simplified character 凶 also exists separately meaning 'ominous' (as in 凶吉 fortune-telling). The traditional 兇 specifically means fierce/violent.

Components

radical

凵 kǎn

open container; pit

The 凵 radical is a pictograph of an open vessel or pit, drawn with a U-shape. It is the indexing radical of 凶 and gives the character its frame: a hole or trap that something has fallen into. Same container-image sits in 凼 puddle and 凷 lump-in-bowl. Here it forms the dangerous receptacle that captures the X above.

ideograph

乂 yì

X-mark; cross stroke

Inside the pit sits 乂, an X-shaped mark - the abstract symbol for 'crossed out, ruled out, struck through'. The combined image is a cross-out trapped inside a pit: a danger-pit clearly marked, or a fallen-in X. From this picture grew every sense: fierce, fearsome, ominous, inauspicious. The X-in-pit is one of Chinese script's clearest danger glyphs.