néng to be able to; to be capable of; ability

Made up of [ yuè moon; month radical 74, private; secret; selfish radical 28, spoon; ladle radical 21]
Made with 10 strokes.
Derived from ancient pictogram of a bear (animal), connection now lost
Ancient small seal form Small seal

Related characters


Also uses yuè component: dǎn (the gall) (clothes) gān (liver) (lake) (beard) jiāo (to glue) míng (bright) péng (friend) péng (friend) (phase) qián (front) qīng (green) sàn (to scatter) shèng (victory) suí (Sui) yīn (yin) yǒu (have) zhāo (dynasty)
Also uses component: gōng (public) me (what) (go) tái (typhoon) xióng (male) yún (cloud) zhì (to arrive)
Also uses component: běi (north) (this) huà (to make into) huá (splendid) huā (flower) lǎo (venerable) ne (and you?) (die) (it)

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Pronunciation

Sound file kindly provided by shtooka.net under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License

stroke order for 能
Stroke order for character 能, kindly provided under Wikimedia creative commons license

Proverbs

常在河边走,哪能不湿鞋 cháng zài hé biān zǒu, nǎ néng bù shī xié You can't ignore the local conditions
能者多劳 néng zhě duō láo Busy people are busy because they are capable
人各有能有不能 rén gè yǒu néng yǒu bù néng Everyone has their own particular set of skills
熟能生巧 shú néng shēng qiǎo With long practice one can learn any skill. Sometimes used disparagingly of a skill anyone can learn given enough time.
水能载舟,亦能覆舟 shuǐ néng zài zhōu, yì néng fù zhōu Events and people can have both positive and negative influences
有钱能使鬼推磨 yǒu qián néng shǐ guǐ tuī mò Money can buy you anything