能 néng to be able to; to be capable of; ability
Made up of [月 yuè moon; month radical 74, 厶 sī private; secret; selfish radical 28, 匕 bǐ spoon; ladle radical 21]Made with 10 strokes.
Derived from ancient pictogram of a bear (animal), connection now lost
Ancient small seal form 
Related characters
Also uses 月 yuè component: 胆 dǎn (the gall) 服 fú (clothes) ; 肝 gān (liver) ; 湖 hú (lake) ; 胡 hú (beard) ; 胶 jiāo (to glue) ; 明 míng (bright) ; 朋 péng (friend) ; 朋 péng (friend) ; 期 qī (phase) ; 前 qián (front) ; 青 qīng (green) ; 散 sàn (to scatter) ; 胜 shèng (victory) ; 隋 suí (Sui) ; 阴 yīn (yin) ; 有 yǒu (have) ; 朝 zhāo (dynasty)
Also uses 厶 sī component: 公 gōng (public) 么 me (what) ; 去 qù (go) ; 台 tái (typhoon) ; 雄 xióng (male) ; 云 yún (cloud) ; 至 zhì (to arrive)
Also uses 匕 bǐ component: 北 běi (north) 此 cǐ (this) ; 化 huà (to make into) ; 华 huá (splendid) ; 花 huā (flower) ; 老 lǎo (venerable) ; 呢 ne (and you?) ; 死 sǐ (die) ; 它 tā (it)
Pronunciation
Sound file kindly provided by shtooka.net ➚ under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License
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