Writing Balance Rule: Keep the outer box (凵) balanced and upright, and make sure the inner cross and strokes inside are centered neatly without touching the bottom border.
Simplification Logic: The traditional form 兇 depicts a trapped person inside a pit with a cross mark, while the simplified form 凶 streamlines the inner elements.
1. Meaning
terrible, fearful, ominous
fierce, violentdisaster, misfortunemurderer, criminal (when used as a noun component)
Sounds like: sh sound pronounced with the tongue flat near the hard palate
Unaspirated
Airflow Tactile Test: Hissing friction with lips stretched wide in a smile.
Tongue & Mouth Position: The tip of the tongue rests gently behind the lower front teeth while the blade rises close to the hard palate.
Final Rhyme
iong
Vowel Group: -o vowel group
Sounds like: rhymes roughly with the '-ong' in 'song' but preceded by an 'i' glide
Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'yoong'.
Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.
Tone
T1 (55)
5 → 5 (55)
1st Tone (High-Flat)
Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 1 stays flat and high at the top of your vocal range, like a sustained opera note.
👂
Listening trap: Do not confuse with xiāng (xiang1) or xiōng pronounced with a falling tone (xiòng). Ensure the high level pitch is maintained throughout the entire duration.
👋
Physical Tone Gesture: Tone 1 is a steady, high-pitched flat line. Imagine holding a high musical note without wavering, or drawing a straight horizontal line in mid-air at eye level.
3. Writing
Topology: Full enclosure · Strokes: 4 strokes
Writing Balance Rule: Keep the outer box (凵) balanced and upright, and make sure the inner cross and strokes inside are centered neatly without touching the bottom border.
Simplification Logic: The traditional form 兇 depicts a trapped person inside a pit with a cross mark, while the simplified form 凶 streamlines the inner elements.
4. Components
Radical凵 · Container / Open Box Radical (pit, container, receptacle)
Semantic Clue (形旁):凵 (represents a pit or trap)
An open box or pit (凵) containing a dangerous entity or a mark of misfortune (乂), indicating a dangerous trap or terrible fate.
凵 pit or enclosure
乂 cross mark / danger
Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
4· Phonetic Root: 凶 (xiōng)
5. History
Liushu category: Compound ideogram (会意)
Origin: Oracle bone scripts show a pit (凵) with a cross or trapped object inside, originally depicting a pitfall trap for catching animals or danger.
Semantic Evolution: From a physical pitfall trap to general ideas of danger, misfortune, fierceness, and violence.
The character visually mimics something falling into a dangerous hole.
6. Sinosphere
🇻🇳
Sino-Vietnamese
hung
Corresponds to the Vietnamese level tone (ngang).
🇯🇵
Kanji (Japanese)
On: キョウ / Kun: こわ.い, あし.い
🇰🇷
Hanja (Korean)
흉
7. Memory
Vivid Mnemonic Story
Imagine walking in the dark and falling straight down into a deep pit (凵) marked with a big danger cross (乂)—a truly TERRIBLE (xiōng) accident!
Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
胸
xiōngchest, bosomAdds the flesh radical (月) on the left: the chest area.
匈
xiōngXiongnu / commotionAdds the wrapping radical (勹) outside.
Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)
凶(xiōng)
Look closely at the bottom opening. 区 (qū) has a boxed container with a horizontal line inside, whereas 凶 (xiōng) has a cross (乂) inside representing danger.
8. Mastery
Active Recall Challenge
这个案件的[___]手已经被警察抓住了。
Clue: xiōng
Common Learner Pitfall
Confusing the inner components of 凶 with 区 (qū) or 画 (huà) due to similar bounding boxes.
Memory Prompts
Recognition: What does 凶 mean and how is it pronounced with Tone 1?
Production: How do you write the character for 'terrible/fierce' (xiōng) using an enclosure radical and a cross?
Real-World Video Context
Watch authentic native speakers pronounce and explain this word in real-world YouTube videos.
Search theme
Accent preference
Results are live YouTube search — accents and levels aren't verified.
凶xiōngterrible, fierce, fierce omen
Speed:
Searching YouTube for native pronunciation videos...