黑熊 (hēi xióng) — black bear | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

black bear

Measure word · 只

黑熊。
Zhè zuò shān lǐ yǒu hěn duō hēi xióng.
There are many black bears in this mountain.
黑熊。
Dòng wù yuán lǐ de hēi xióng zhèng zài shuì jiào.
The black bear in the zoo is sleeping.
黑熊。
Tā kàn dào yì zhī hēi xióng zài hé biān hē shuǐ.
He saw a black bear drinking water by the river.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

黑 names black and 熊 names bear, so the word is a black bear.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 黑 seems to come from drawing a head marked with dots, usually read as facial tattoos.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

炎

炎yán熊xióng

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

熊 is made of 能 and 炎. It originally represented a word for raging flame; when 能 was borrowed for another word, 熊 came to write 'bear'.

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