狡 (jiǎo): crafty

Meanings

这个人太狡猾了，得小心。

Zhège rén tài jiǎohuá le, děi xiǎoxīn.

This person is too crafty; you have to watch out.

狡兔三窟。

Jiǎotù sān kū.

A cunning rabbit has three burrows.

usage

Most common in 狡猾 (cunning, sly) and 狡辩 (to argue speciously, to quibble). It always carries a negative, untrustworthy tone.

radical

犭 quǎn

dog; beast (left-side form of 犬)

The beast radical (left-side form of 犬) is common in animal and animal-trait words; here it links cunning to a fox-like, beastly slyness.

phonetic

交 jiāo

to cross; to hand over

On the right 交 supplies the sound, shifted from jiāo to jiǎo. It serves purely as the phonetic element.

狡 jiǎo