Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-Tibetan/tV-wəm

• Proto-Sino-Tibetan: *dɣwjəm (Coblin, 1986)
  • Proto-Tibeto-Burman: *d-wam (Matisoff, STEDT; Benedict, 1972; Weidert, 1987); *d-wam(*A) (Coblin, 1986); *d-wɑm (Chou, 1972)

Old Chinese had *-m final, as suggested by Shuowen (炎 (yán) - phonetic), which is preserved only in a few Min dialects, e.g. Amoy, Fu'an, Yong'an; elsewhere the final changed mainly to -ŋ.

The following look similar to the OC form:

• Korean 곰 (gom, “bear”)
• Japanese 熊 (kuma)
• Proto-Mon-Khmer *[k]mum (“bear, black bear”), whence Mon ကၟဳ (mɛm), Khmer ឃ្មុំ (kmum) (as in ខ្លាឃ្មុំ (klaa kmum, “sun bear”))
• Vietnamese hùm (“tiger”).

rGyalrongic and Tibetan report a coronal initial element t/d, possibly from a presyllable.^[1]

*tV-wəm

1. bear

• Old Chinese: 熊 /*C.ɢʷəm/ (B-S) /*ɢʷlɯm/ (ZS) (“bear”)
  • Middle Chinese: 熊 /ɦɨuŋ/
    • Mandarin:
      • Beijing: 熊 (xióng) /ɕi̯ʊŋ³⁵/
    • Cantonese:
      • Guangzhou-Hong Kong: 熊 (hung⁴) /hʊŋ²¹/
    • Wu:
      • Shanghainese: 熊 (⁶yon) /ɦiʊ̆ŋ²³/
  • Min:
    • Coastal Min:
      • Min Nan:
        • Hokkien:
          • Taiwan: 熊 /him²⁴/
• Proto-Bodish: *(d)wam
  • Tibetic
    • Tibetan: དོམ (dom)
  • Dakpa-Dzala
    • Dakpa: [Term?] (/⁠hom³⁵, xom³⁵, (w)ɔm³⁵⁠/)
    • Dzala: ཝམ (wam)
  • East Bodish
    • Bumthangkha: ཝམ (wam)
    • Kurtöp: ཝམ (wam)
• rGyalrongic
  • West rGyalrongic
    • Tangut: 𗴈 (*dow²) /dõ³⁵/
  • East rGyalrongic
    • Situ: təwam /təwaʔm/
• Lolo-Burmese
  • Proto-Burmish: *wam
    • Achang: woms
    • Burmese: ဝံ (wam), ဝက်ဝံ (wak-wam, “bear”)
  • Loloish
    • Northern Loloish
      • Nuosu: ꊈ (wo, “bear”)
• Proto-Karen: *thamᴬ (Luangthongkum, 2013)
• Proto-Kuki-Chin: *wom
  • Khomic
    • Khumi Chin: tävawng
  • Maraic
    • Lutuv: cavaw

• Chinese: 羆 / 罴 (pí) (*pral, "brown bear"); 魋 (*duːl, "a bear-like animal")
• Proto-Tai: *ʰmwɯjᴬ (“bear”) (whence Thai หมี (mǐi), Lao ໝີ (mī)), recorded in Chinese literature as 羋 / 芈 (*meʔ), the ancestral name of the Chu state rulers.