熊市 (xióng shì) — bear market (a market in which prices are falling, encouraging selling)

Definition

Literal 'bear market': a sustained period of falling prices, opposite of 牛市 (bull market). The bear symbolizes a downward-swinging market in Chinese just as in English.

noun
bear market (a market in which prices are falling, encouraging selling)

Examples

  • 熊市，。
    Zuì jìn xióng shì chí xù xià diē, hěn duō tóu zī zhě dōu kuī le qián.
    Recently the bear market has been falling continuously, and many investors have lost money.
  • 熊市，。
    Zài xióng shì zhōng, tóu zī zhě yīng gāi jǐn shèn cāo zuò.
    In a bear market, investors should operate cautiously.
  • 熊市。
    Zhuān jiā yù cè míng nián xióng shì huì zhuǎn wéi niú shì.
    Experts predict that the bear market will turn into a bull market next year.

Origin

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.

熊xióngbear
市shìmarket

The bear and market combine to describe a market where prices fall.

Characters in this word

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
能能néngbear
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'.

Open 熊 →

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
兮兮xībustling
Sound part声符shēngfú
之
之zhī市shì
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The old form 市 pairs 兮, meaning bustling, with 之, the sound part.

Open 市 →

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