貉 (hé): raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyo…

Meanings

1 raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides)
2 tanuki (the Japanese name for the same animal)

Characters

貉

hé

raccoon dog (with the 豸 'beast' radical)

Examples

貉是东亚常见的犬科动物。

Hé shì Dōngyà chángjiàn de quǎnkē dòngwù.

The raccoon dog is a canine common across East Asia.

一丘之貉。

Yī qiū zhī hé.

Birds of a feather (lit. raccoon dogs from the same hill).

Tips

culture

The Japanese tanuki (a raccoon dog, not a raccoon) is the same species as 貉. In Japanese folklore it's a shape-shifting trickster — those round-bellied tanuki statues outside restaurants are this animal. The chengyu 一丘之貉 ('raccoon dogs from the same hill') uses 貉 as a metaphor for shady people who are all alike.

mistakes

貉 has multiple readings: hé is the standard literary/dictionary reading; háo is a colloquial reading (esp. in 貉子 háozi 'raccoon-dog fur'); mò is an archaic reading meaning 'northern barbarian tribes'. Use hé unless the context clearly calls for the others.

Components

radical

豸 zhì

cat-like beast; legless reptile

Left side 豸 is the indexing radical — pictograph of a long-bodied predator crouched to spring. Used as radical for medium-sized wild mammals: 豹 leopard, 狸 leopard cat, 貂 marten. Marks 貉 as a member of that beast family — specifically the raccoon dog, the Japanese tanuki.

phonetic

各 gè

each; every

Right side 各 supplies the sound through a drift: gè → hé. Same phonetic powers 客 guest, 络 net, 洛 (Luo river), 落 fall — a productive series with multiple readings. Pure phonetic; the "each" meaning of 各 plays no part in the animal’s name.