Chinese Character Wiki
兄

xiōng

elder brother

Pictograph of a mouth on top of a person, representing an older brother giving orders.

Components
口 iconic component

口  Iconic component

kǒu

  

mouth

人 iconic component

人  Iconic component

rén

  

person

Evolution

兄 Oracle script (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)
兄 Bronze script Late Shang dynasty (~1100 BC)

Bronze script

Late Shang dynasty (~1100 BC)
兄 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
兄 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
兄 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

兄  

xiōng

elder brother

Most common words with 兄
Freq.
Word
Meaning

兄弟

brothers

老兄

'old chap' (form of address between male friends)

兄

elder brother

师兄

senior male fellow student or apprentice

兄妹

brother(s) and sister(s)

Component uses

Sound component in 3 characters (2 verified)

况 況 贶

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*m̥raŋ

xjwaeng

xiōng

elder brother


Statistics

HSK level 4

Appears in 56.6074% of movies

475th most common character in movies

1089th most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

5

Unicode

U+5144

Shuowen

“兄，長也。从儿，从口。”


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