凶猛
xiōng měng · HSK 7
fierce
🐅 凶 fierce + 猛 fierce; 猛 carries the 犭 beast radical, so it reads beast-fierce
Two fierce characters stacked for emphasis. 凶 means menacing or savage on its own; 猛 adds the 犭 animal-radical, marking the violence of a wild beast. Together they describe a predator-level ferocity: fierce, violent, ferocious.
凶 — 凵 (open container) + 㐅 (crossed lines marking a pit)
凶 is a pictograph showing a pit or hole (凵) with crossed lines inside, marking a dangerous trap one could fall into. From this image of a hazard, the character came to mean 'inauspicious,' 'fierce,' or 'ominous,' and is the opposite of 吉 (auspicious).
猛 — dog radical 犭 + 孟 (mèng, phonetic)
猛 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The dog radical 犭 indicates a fierce animal, while 孟 (mèng) supplies the sound. Originally describing a ferocious hunting dog, its meaning broadened to 'fierce, violent, vigorous' for anything intense.