HSK 6 · Ideas

本能 běnnéng “instinct” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 本能 means

  1. instinct

How to say 本能

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale本běn3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale能néng2nd tone, rising

本能 in a sentence

  1. 大多数动物都有保护幼仔的本能。

    Dàduōshù dòngwù dōu yǒu bǎohù yòuzǎi de běnnéng.

    Most animals have an instinct to protect their young.

    Sentence #12568674 from Tatoeba

How 本能 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 本 (běn) with each of its parts in a different colour
本běnroot; stem
  • 木tree · mù
  • 一one · yī

Memory aidA tree 木 with a mark 一 on its roots: root, origin.

The character 能 (néng) with each of its parts in a different colour
能néngcan
  • 厶private · sī
  • ⺼meat form of 肉 · ròu
  • 匕spoon · bǐ
  • 匕spoon · bǐ

Memory aidDrawn from a bear. It was borrowed for “can, be able to”.

How to write 本能

本 5 strokes · 能 10 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

本能 (běnnéng) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 本能 (běnnéng). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 本能

Words with 本

本běn · measure word for books本子běnzi · book课本kèběn · textbook笔记本bǐjìběn · notebook本来běnlái · original根本gēnběn · (not) at all本科běnkē · undergraduate course本领běnlǐng · skill本质běnzhì · essence基本jīběn · basic

Words with 能

能néng · can可能kěnéng · maybe只能zhǐnéng · can only能力nénglì · capability能够nénggòu · to be able to能干nénggàn · capable能源néngyuán · energy功能gōngnéng · function职能zhínéng · function能量néngliàng · energy

More words: Ideas & Concepts

拔苗助长bámiáozhùzhǎng · to spoil things through haste (lit. pull shoots to help growth)榜样bǎngyàng · role model半途而废bàntú'érfèi · to give up halfway饱经沧桑bǎojīngcāngsāng · to have lived through many ups and downs本事běnshi · ability变故biàngù · misfortune变迁biànqiān · changes辩证biànzhèng · dialectical

FAQs

本能 (běnnéng) means “instinct”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it běnnéng: běn with a 3rd tone, then néng with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 本能 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type benneng with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 本能 from the suggestions. Typing benneng into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
本能 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.