兽 usually refers to wild or fierce animals. Common compounds: 野兽 (yěshòu, wild beast), 怪兽 (guàishòu, monster), 猛兽 (měngshòu, fierce beast), 禽兽 (qínshòu, beast -- also used as an insult).
Components
ideograph
兽shòu
beast; wild animal
Heavily simplified from traditional 獸, where the original showed a hunting-net-like top + 犬 (dog) — a dog hunting a beast. The 1956 reform reduced this to a stylized silhouette with 田-like middle and 一+口 base, losing the transparent hunter-and-prey image. Modern shape best treated as a single ideograph for 'wild beast.'
Filed under radical 八 (bā) by convention. 八 is not a separate component in 兽, so no strokes are highlighted.
