熊 | xióng

In Mandarin Chinese, 熊 (Pinyin: xióng 🔊) means “bear” (a carnivoran mammal). Here is a possible mnemonic for those whose bear experience is limited to teddy bears: the pronunciation is similar to German schön 🔊 “beautiful” or non-standard (but widely understood) Russian щён “puppy”.

According to Wiktionary,

This character originally represented an onomatopoetic word [熊熊 {xióngxióng, “(of flame) raging”}]. Later its phonetic compound 能, the character for the Old Chinese word “bear”, was borrowed for another word. This character thus began to represent the word “bear” instead.

Lawrence J. Howell writes in his Etymological Dictionary of Han/Chinese Characters:

As per 能 (bear) + 火 fire → bear (← ancient belief associating bears with the spirit of fire).

(火 has got reduced to the four short strokes 灬 on the bottom of 熊.)

True, the bear is a complex character, maybe because you are not supposed to mention him too often (just as you are not supposed to abuse words like “love”)? At least 熊 does not contain any kind of “dog” in it (but see below).

熊 is a “simplified” form of a traditional character 熊. I put “simplified” in quotes because it does not look like a simplification at all. Both hanzi have 14 strokes and you really need to look hard to spot the difference, which boils down to a couple of strokes going askew.

Now there are bears and there are bears:

• 白 + 熊 = 白熊 (báixióng): polar bear
• 人 + 熊 = 人熊 (rénxióng): brown bear
• 马 + 熊 = 马熊 (mǎxióng): another word for brown bear (literally “horse-bear”)
• 狗 + 熊 = 狗熊 (gǒuxióng): Asian black bear (literally “dog-bear”)
• 浣 + 熊 = 浣熊 (huànxióng 🔊): raccoon (literally “wash-bear”)
• 熊 + 猫 = 熊猫 (xióngmāo 🔊): panda (literally “bear cat”)

Well, phylogenetically, raccoons are not bears (and red pandas are not foxes), but here you are.

More photos related to bears, beads and sea glass @ Shutterstock.

甲 | jiǎ

In Mandarin Chinese, 甲 (Pinyin: jiǎ 🔊) is a noun that means “armour”, “shell”, or “nail”. It is also the first of ten celestial stems and, by extension, means “first”.

Uncle Hanzi says that 甲 is a “pictograph of natural crack joints in the underside of a turtle-shell”. On the other hand, Lawrence J. Howell writes in his Etymological Dictionary of Han/Chinese Characters:

Originally, a depiction of objects being pressed down, suggesting “press down on objects in containing them” → armor; helmet; shell. From the bronzeware inscription style onward, however, the character becomes a depiction of a hard, seed-bearing husk. First in a series and first calendar sign are borrowed meanings.

Compounds of 甲 include

• 龟 + 甲 = 龟甲 (guījiǎ): tortoise shell
• 甲 + 虫 = 甲虫 (jiǎchóng 🔊): beetle
• 甲 + 基 = 甲基 (jiǎjī): (chemistry) methyl group
• 马 + 甲 = 马甲 (mǎjiǎ): corset; camouflage; online pseudonym

More photos related to shells @ Shutterstock.

午 | wǔ

In Mandarin Chinese, 午 (Pinyin: wǔ 🔊) is the seventh of twelve earthly branches. It corresponds to the Year of the Horse (马) of the Chinese zodiac; the fifth month; the hour of the Horse (11 am to 1 pm, “the time when the sun is high overhead and while other animals are lying down for a rest, Horses are still standing”, or, sometimes, precisely noon); and the direction 180° (i.e. south). Its associated “fixed element” is Fire, 火. Note that the character 马 refers to any horse while 午 refers to the “zodiac horse”.

The shape of 午 is almost exactly the same as 牛 but these two characters are unrelated. According to Uncle Hanzi, 午 is a “pictograph of a large double ended pestle for dehusking rice”.

More photos related to horses, zodiac and sea glass @ Shutterstock.

马 | mǎ

In Mandarin Chinese, 马 (Pinyin: mǎ 🔊) means “horse”. The Horse is one of the twelve-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac and is associated with the earthly branch 午. 马 also stands for “knight” (in chess) and “horse” (or “knight”) in xiangqi (Chinese chess). Finally, 马 can be used as an adjective “big”.

马 is a simplified form of the traditional character 馬 which is

derived from the pictogram of a horse with its head turned to look back and showing a flowing mane in the wind. The four short strokes at its base (灬) represent its feet, and the sweeping hook stroke in the lower right represents its tail.

Curiously, or maybe not, 小马 / 小馬 (xiǎomǎ), a compound with our friend 小, “small”, can mean either “pony” or “foal”. My Lovely “you’re a pony no more” Horse springs to mind, as horses do.

More photos related to horses, zodiac and sea glass @ Shutterstock.