熊

According to Shuowen, phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *ɢʷlɯm): semantic 能 (“bear”) + abbreviated phonetic 炎 (OC *ɦlam).
This character originally represented an onomatopoetic word (熊熊 (xióngxióng, “(of flame) raging”)). Later its semantic component 能 (OC *nɯː, *nɯːs, *nɯːŋ, *nɯːŋʔ), the character for the Old Chinese word "bear", was borrowed for another word. This character thus began to represent the word "bear" instead.
From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *d-wam. Cognate with Tibetan དོམ (dom, “bear”), Burmese ဝံ (wam) (in ဝက်ဝံ (wak-wam, “bear”)).

Han compound

bear (mammal) (Classifier: 頭／头 m; 隻／只 m c mn)

What dreams are lucky?
They have been about black bears and brown bears;
They have been about asps and adders.

The Classic of Poetry, c. 11ᵗʰ – 7ᵗʰ centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

Jí mèng wéi hé?
Wéi xióng wéi pí,
Wéi huǐ wéi shé.

吉夢維何？
維熊維羆、
維虺維蛇。

吉梦维何？
维熊维罴、
维虺维蛇。

(archaic, Muping and Xining Mandarin, Xinzhou Jin) black bear

Xiong Shili (20th-century Chinese philosopher)

熊十力

a surname: Xiong (mainland China); Hsiung (Taiwan); Hung (Hong Kong)


羆

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *pral): phonetic 罷 (OC *breːlʔ, *bral, *bralʔ) + semantic 熊 (“bear”); the common part 能 is shared.
Observing that the young of some brown bear subspecies sport white stripes, which fade with age, around their chests, Zhang (2019) proposes that 羆 (OC *praj) is cognate to 斑 (OC *prân) "stripe, striped", both being from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *pral. As 斑 (OC *prân) is possibly the same word as 班 (OC *prân) (Schuessler, 2007), see 班 (OC *prân) for more etymology.

Han compound

What dreams are lucky?
They have been about black bears and brown bears,
They have been about asps and adders.

Jí mèng wéi hé,
Wéi xióng wéi pí,
Wéi huǐ wéi shé.

吉夢維何、
維熊維羆、
維虺維蛇。

吉梦维何、
维熊维罴、
维虺维蛇。


白熊

/paɪ̯³⁵ ɕi̯ʊŋ³⁵/

/paːk̚² hʊŋ²¹/

/pɛ(ʔ)¹²¹⁻²¹ him¹³/

/paɪ̯³⁵ ɕi̯ʊŋ³⁵/

/paːk̚² hʊŋ²¹/

/pɛ(ʔ)¹²¹⁻²¹ him¹³/

Compare Japanese 白熊 (shirokuma), Korean 흰곰 (huin'gom), Vietnamese gấu trắng, all of which literally means “white bear”.


狗熊

/koʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ ɕi̯ʊŋ³⁵/

/kəu⁵³ ɕyoŋ²¹/

/kɐu̯³⁵ hʊŋ²¹/

/ki̯eu̯³¹ i̯uŋ¹¹/

/kəu⁵³ ɕyŋ¹¹/

/e²¹ xœyŋ³³/

/kau⁵⁵⁴⁻²⁴ him²⁴/

/kau³¹⁻⁵⁵ hiɔŋ²²/

/kø³³ ɦioŋ⁴⁴/

/kɘu̯³³ ʑ̊in¹¹/

/koʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ ɕi̯ʊŋ³⁵/

/kəu⁵³ ɕyoŋ²¹/

/kɐu̯³⁵ hʊŋ²¹/

/ki̯eu̯³¹ i̯uŋ¹¹/

/kəu⁵³ ɕyŋ¹¹/

/e²¹ xœyŋ³³/

/kau⁵⁵⁴⁻²⁴ him²⁴/

/kau³¹⁻⁵⁵ hiɔŋ²²/

/kø³³ ɦioŋ⁴⁴/

/kɘu̯³³ ʑ̊in¹¹/

(dialectal Mandarin, dialectal Huizhou, Jin, Leizhou Min, Southern Pinghua, Hengyang Xiang) bear


北極熊

ㄅㄟˇ ㄐㄧˊ ㄒㄩㄥˊ

/peɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ t͡ɕi³⁵ ɕi̯ʊŋ³⁵/

/pɐk̚⁵ kɪk̚² hʊŋ²¹/

/pak̚³²⁻⁴ kiɪk̚⁴⁻³² him²³/

/pak̚³²⁻⁴ kiɪk̚⁴⁻³² him²⁴/

/pak̚³²⁻⁵ kiɪk̚¹²¹⁻²¹ him¹³/

/pak̚⁵⁻²⁴ kiak̚²⁴⁻² him²⁴/

/peɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ t͡ɕi³⁵ ɕi̯ʊŋ³⁵/

/pɐk̚⁵ kɪk̚² hʊŋ²¹/

/pak̚³²⁻⁴ kiɪk̚⁴⁻³² him²³/

/pak̚³²⁻⁴ kiɪk̚⁴⁻³² him²⁴/

/pak̚³²⁻⁵ kiɪk̚¹²¹⁻²¹ him¹³/

/pak̚⁵⁻²⁴ kiak̚²⁴⁻² him²⁴/

Compare Japanese 北極熊 (hokkyokuguma), Korean 북극곰 (Bukgeukgom), Vietnamese gấu Bắc Cực, all of which literally mean “arctic bear”.


灰熊

/xu̯eɪ̯⁵⁵ ɕi̯ʊŋ³⁵/

/fuːi̯⁵⁵ hʊŋ²¹/

/xu̯eɪ̯⁵⁵ ɕi̯ʊŋ³⁵/

/fuːi̯⁵⁵ hʊŋ²¹/


棕熊

/t͡sʊŋ⁵⁵ ɕi̯ʊŋ³⁵/

/t͡sʊŋ⁵⁵ hʊŋ²¹/

/t͡sʊŋ⁵⁵ ɕi̯ʊŋ³⁵/

/t͡sʊŋ⁵⁵ hʊŋ²¹/


馬熊

/mä²¹⁴⁻²¹ ɕi̯ʊŋ³⁵/

/maː¹³ hʊŋ²¹/

/mä²¹⁴⁻²¹ ɕi̯ʊŋ³⁵/

/maː¹³ hʊŋ²¹/


小熊

/ɕi̯ɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ ɕi̯ʊŋ³⁵/

/ɕi̯ɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ ɕi̯ʊŋ³⁵/


人熊

/ʐən³⁵ ɕi̯ʊŋ³⁵/

/jɐn²¹ hʊŋ²¹/

/ŋin¹¹ i̯uŋ¹¹/

/laŋ²⁴⁻²² him²⁴/

/laŋ²⁴⁻²² him²⁴/

/laŋ¹³⁻²² him¹³/

/laŋ²⁴⁻¹¹ him²⁴/

/laŋ²³⁻³³ him²³/

/ʐən³⁵ ɕi̯ʊŋ³⁵/

/jɐn²¹ hʊŋ²¹/

/ŋin¹¹ i̯uŋ¹¹/

/laŋ²⁴⁻²² him²⁴/

/laŋ²⁴⁻²² him²⁴/

/laŋ¹³⁻²² him¹³/

/laŋ²⁴⁻¹¹ him²⁴/

/laŋ²³⁻³³ him²³/


熊人

/hʊŋ²¹ jɐn²¹⁻³⁵/

/hʊŋ²¹ jɐn²¹⁻³⁵/

(Muping Mandarin) honest but incompetent person


黑瞎子

/xeɪ̯⁵⁵ ɕi̯ä⁵⁵ d͡z̥z̩²/

/xeɪ̯⁵⁵ ɕi̯ä⁵⁵ d͡z̥z̩²/


熊瞎子

/ɕi̯ʊŋ³⁵ ɕi̯ä⁵⁵ d͡z̥z̩²/

/ɕi̯ʊŋ³⁵ ɕi̯ä⁵⁵ d͡z̥z̩²/


馬來熊

ㄇㄚˇ ㄌㄞˊ ㄒㄩㄥˊ

/mä²¹⁴⁻²¹ laɪ̯³⁵ ɕi̯ʊŋ³⁵/

/mä²¹⁴⁻²¹ laɪ̯³⁵ ɕi̯ʊŋ³⁵/


大貓熊

/tä⁵¹ mɑʊ̯⁵⁵ ɕi̯ʊŋ³⁵/

/taːi̯²² maːu̯⁵⁵ hʊŋ²¹/

/tä⁵¹ mɑʊ̯⁵⁵ ɕi̯ʊŋ³⁵/

/taːi̯²² maːu̯⁵⁵ hʊŋ²¹/


熊人婆

/hʊŋ²¹ jɐn²¹ pʰɔː²¹⁻⁵⁵/

/hʊŋ²¹ jɐn²¹ pʰɔː²¹⁻⁵⁵/

(Guangzhou Cantonese, childish) big mother bear (said to scare children)


熊家

/iʊŋ¹¹ ka⁴⁴/

/iʊŋ¹¹ ka⁴⁴/