犭

fǎnquǎnpáng

radical variant

Meanings

1 side dog/beast radical (variant of 犬)
2 left form of the dog radical, Kangxi #94

Tips

usage

If a character has 犭 on the left, it is almost certainly an animal - and usually a four-legged mammal, not just dogs. The pedagogical name fǎnquǎnpáng ('reversed-dog side') just describes the shape; semantically it covers the full beast family. Never written alone; the standalone form is 犬.

history

犭 is the calligraphic compression of 犬, originally a pictograph of a standing dog with raised tail. In side-position the dog narrows to a curved three-stroke column: the top hook suggests the lifted head, and the diagonal slash echoes back and tail.

usage

Beast/animal cue: 狗 (dog), 猫 (cat), 猪 (pig), 狼 (wolf), 猴 (monkey), 独 (alone), 狂 (wild/crazy), 狐 (fox).

Radical

Dog Kangxi #94

Highly productive — flags characters about dogs, predators, and by extension many wild four-legged animals. Almost always appears as the left-side variant 犭 (狗 dog, 猫 cat, 狼 wolf, 猪 pig, 猴 monkey, 狮 lion). The full form 犬 is reserved for formal compounds like 警犬.

Forms

犬 quǎn

Default 5 characters

犭 fǎnquǎnpáng

Left 49 characters

Used in

View all 49 →

Showing 6 of 49 · left form 犭 of 犬

狗 gǒu

dog

猜 cāi

to guess; to speculate · to suspect

犯 fàn

to violate; to commit (a crime or mistake) · criminal; offender

猫 māo

cat · to hide oneself (dialectal verb)

猫 máo

to stoop; to bend over (bound, dialectal; only in 猫腰)

猪 zhū

pig; hog

Stroke Order