"bear" American Sign Language (ASL)

American Sign Language: BEAR

BEAR:
The sign for "bear" is done by crossing your arms over your chest and clawing your chest twice.

GRIZZLY:
There isn't a widely established sign for "grizzly." It is generally fingerspelled, and if necessary, introduced using signs like "LARGE, BROWN." Then for the rest of the conversation the sign BEAR means grizzly. If for whatever reason you needed to use both the word "bear" and the word "grizzly" frequently in the same conversation you would stick to signing BEAR and spelling G-R-I-ZZ-L-Y. The double "ZZ" in grizzly would be done with a bent "V" hand. In my own repeated spelling of grizzly I noticed that eventually I lexicalized the spelling to the point where I dropped one of the "Z's" which allowed me to use the single index finger to transition from a "Z" into an "L" very quickly.

CUB:

Since the word "cub" is so short, it is generally fingerspelled in adult conversation. If introducing the concept you would use signs like "SMALL" (two hands, slightly curved, showing size) and "BABY."

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