凶 (xiōng): terrible, fearful, vicious
凶 (xiōng) is a Chinese character meaning “terrible.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 凵 (structural) and 乂 (structural). It ranks #1370 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 凶 a container 凵 of wickedness 乂. Its radical form 凵 (open mouth) appears in many related characters such as 出 (chū, to go out), 击 (jī, to hit), 凸 (tū, to stick out).
Definitions
- terrible
- fearful
- vicious
Etymology & Origin
ideographicA container 凵 of wickedness 乂
Decomposition: ⿶凵乂 (layout: surround-from-bottom)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 凶 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 凶手noun | xiōng shǒu | murderer |
| 凶器noun | xiōng qì | lethal weapon |
| 凶杀verb | xiōng shā | to murder |
| 凶杀案noun | xiōng shā àn | murder case |
| 帮凶verb | bāng xiōng | variant of 幫凶|帮凶 |
| 行凶verb | xíng xiōng | violent crime |
| 凶残adjective | xiōng cán | savage |
| 凶猛adjective | xiōng měng | fierce |
| 凶狠adjective | xiōng hěn | variant of 凶狠 |
| 凶恶adjective | xiōng è | fierce |
| 元凶noun | yuán xiōng | chief offender |
| 凶悍adjective | xiōng hàn | violent |
| 凶暴adjective | xiōng bào | brutal |
| 穷凶极恶phrase | qióng xiōng jí è | fiendish |
| 凶犯noun | xiōng fàn | murderer |
凶 appears in 55 compound words: 71 as the first character, 22 as the last, and 7 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 凶 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (6)
show one's ferocious appearance (idiom); the atrocious features revealed; with fangs bared
show one's ferocious appearance (idiom); the atrocious features revealed; with fangs bared
Example Sentences
凶字在不同的语境中有不同的用法。
xiōng zì zài bù tóng de yǔ jìng zhōng yǒu bù tóng de yòng fǎ .
The character "凶" has different usages in different contexts.
...买台股 吴静怡酸:不是亲中反美怎么买这么凶?
. . . mǎi tái gǔ wú jìng yí suān : bù shì qīn zhōng fǎn měi zěn má mǎi zhè má xiōng ?
... Buy Taiwan stocks Wu Jingyi acid: Why is it not pro-China and anti-American?
“六星连珠+血月”3大凶相夹击!命理师示警:恐有震荡流血灾难
liù xīng lián zhū xiě yuè 3 dà xiōng xiāng jiā jī ! mìng lǐ shī shì jǐng : kǒng yǒu zhèn dàng liú xiě zāi nán
"Six Stars + Blood Moon" 3 fierce attacks! Numerologists warn: There may be shocks and bloodshed disasters
战争传奇、奥运金牌、救难英雄、凶案受害者家属 美国总统国情咨文主角为何是...
zhàn zhēng chuán qí , ào yùn jīn pái , jiù nán yīng xióng , xiōng àn shòu hài zhě jiā shǔ měi guó zǒng tǒng guó qíng zī wén zhǔ jiǎo wéi hé shì . . .
War legends, Olympic gold medals, rescue heroes, families of murder victims Why is the protagonist of the US President's State of the Union address...
警察变毒贩 欧塞奎拉凶残难捉摸
jǐng chá biàn dú fàn ōu sāi 奎 lā xiōng cán nán zhuō mō
The police turned drug dealer Ossequira was brutal and elusive
云林大黄狗被人从5楼丢下“凶手抓到了” 虐狗原因曝光
yún lín dà huáng gǒu bèi rén cóng 5 lóu diū xià xiōng shǒu zhuā dào le nüè gǒu yuán yīn pù guāng
The big yellow dog in Yunlin was dropped from the 5th floor "The murderer was caught" and the reason for the dog abuse was exposed
什么事？干嘛一脸凶巴巴的。
Shénmeshì? gànmá yī liǎn xiōng bābā de.
What's the matter? You look very angry.
他对杀父凶手进行了报复。
Tā duì shā fù xiōngshǒu jìnxíng le bàofù.
He avenged the murder of his father.
警察逮捕了谋杀这位小姐的凶手。
Jǐngchá dàibǔ le móushā zhèwèi xiǎojie de xiōngshǒu.
The police arrested the man who had murdered the girl.
老虎是一种非常凶猛的动物。
Lǎohǔ shì yīzhǒng fēicháng xiōngměng de dòngwù.
A tiger is a very ferocious kind of animal.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 凶 (xiōng) mean in Chinese?
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What are the components of 凶?
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What characters sound the same as 凶 (xiōng)?
Is 凶 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 凶 with real-time feedback
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