凶 is also the simplified spelling of 兇.

凶

Mandarin · pinyin xiōng

Meanings

  1. vicious
  2. fierce
  3. ominous
  4. inauspicious
  5. famine
  6. variant of 兇 xiōng
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Characters in this entry

凶
xiōng · culprit; murder; bad, sad
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1 · xiong1

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1character link17same-tone records1source reference
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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 6 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

hung1

Cantonese word readings for 凶. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

character

  1. inauspicious; bad luck; bad omen
  2. to have a famine due to crop failure
  3. fierce; ferocious
  4. terrible; fearful
  5. act of violence; murder; evil
  6. ruffian; evildoer; criminal

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack