熊 (xióng) · bear (animal)

Measure Word

一只熊 zhǐ

Meanings

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

Characters

熊

xióng

bear (animal)

Examples

HSK 4

别那么熊，勇敢一点！

Bié nàme xióng, yǒnggǎn yìdiǎn!

Don't be such a coward, be braver!

HSK 4

森林里有很多熊。

Sēnlín lǐ yǒu hěnduō xióng.

There are many bears in the forest.

HSK 5

他被老板熊了一顿。

Tā bèi lǎobǎn xióng le yí dùn.

He got scolded by the boss.

Tips

usage

The colloquial meanings are very common in northern China. 熊孩子 = '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.