HSK 3 · Nature

熊猫 xióngmāo “panda” in Chinese

Traditional 熊貓

What 熊猫 means

  1. panda

Measure word 只 zhī · 一只熊猫 yì zhī xióngmāo

How to say 熊猫

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale熊xióng2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale猫māo1st tone, high and level

熊猫 in a sentence

  1. 熊猫很聪明。

    Xióngmāo hěn cōngming.

    Pandas are very clever.

    Sentence #766002 from Tatoeba

  2. 熊猫是中国的国宝。

    Xióngmāo shì Zhōngguó de guóbǎo.

    The panda is China’s national treasure.

    Sentence #765389 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 可能你们中的许多人在动物园都看过熊猫。

    Kěnéng nǐmen zhōng de xǔduō rén zài dòngwùyuán dōu kànguo xióngmāo.

    Many of you have probably seen pandas at the zoo.

    Sentence #765385 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 熊猫 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 熊 (xióng) with each of its parts in a different colour
熊xióngbear
  • 能can · néng
  • 灬fire form of 火 · huǒ

Memory aid能 once meant “bear”. When it came to mean “can”, the fire dots 灬 were added below to write “bear”.

The character 猫 (māo) with each of its parts in a different colour
猫māocat 只)
  • 犭dog form of 犬 · quǎnMeaning part
  • 苗sprouts · miáoSound part

犭 hints at the meaning (dog); 苗 (miáo) hints at the sound. Compare it with māo.

Memory aidAnimal 犭 with 苗 (miáo) for the sound, close to a cat's “miaow”.

How to write 熊猫

熊 14 strokes · 猫 11 strokes

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

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

Words related to 熊猫

Words with 熊

Words with 猫

More words: Nature, Animals & Weather

FAQs

熊猫 (xióngmāo) means “panda”. It is an HSK 3 word.
Say it xióngmāo: xióng with a 2nd tone, then māo with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 熊猫 is written 熊貓. The pronunciation is the same.
Use 只 (zhī). For example, one panda is 一只熊猫 (yì zhī xióngmāo).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type xiongmao with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 熊猫 from the suggestions. Typing xiongmao into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
熊猫 is an HSK 3 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

Turn words into conversations

A dictionary gives you the words. A native teacher shows you how to use them. Start with a free 30-minute intro call.

Book a free intro call

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.