Translingual

Stroke order

Alternative forms

• 犭 (when used as a left Chinese radical)

Although the alternative form clearly shows only three strokes, it is still counted as four strokes when using a Chinese dictionary. Compare 氵 from 水 ‎(“water”), 扌 from 手 ‎(“hand”), and 忄 from 心 ‎(“heart”), all of which are a 3-stroke form from a 4-stroke character.

Han character

犬 (radical 94 犬+0, 4 strokes, cangjie input 戈大 (IK), four-corner 4303₀, composition ⿻大丶)

1. Kangxi radical #94, ⽝ ‎(“dog”).

Usage notes

犬 is the 94th radical in the Chinese dictionary. Compound characters such as 狇 mostly use the alternative form at the left of the character. Most represent something to do with dogs or other animals. A smaller proportion (e. g. 狀) use the primary form at the right of the character. A few even show both forms: in 獄 which means "prison" or "litigation"; "words" (言) stand between two dogs to keep them from biting each other.

Derived characters

• Index:Chinese radical/犬
• 默 (黙) 䭾

References

• KangXi: page 705, character 27
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 20234
• Dae Jaweon: page 1118, character 14
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 2, page 1331, character 1
• Unihan data for U+72AC

Chinese

A dog (a Labrador)

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 犬
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Bamboo and silk script	Large seal script	Small seal script

Pictogram (象形) – the dot is the ear. In the form 犭, a dog that is up on its hind legs.

Etymology

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *d-kʷəj-n ‎(“dog”).

This common Sino-Tibetan word has been replaced by 狗 (OC *koːʔ) in most dialects except a few Min dialects, such as Fuzhou kēng. In other dialects, this word is mainly found in compounds and not used alone.

Pronunciation

Definitions

犬

1. (archaic, Min Dong, dialectal Wu) dog

Synonyms

Compounds

Descendants

Japanese

Kanji

(grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. a dog
2. the dog radical (いぬ)

Readings

• Goon: けん (ken)
• Kan’on: けん (ken)
• Kun: いぬ (inu)

Compounds

Etymology

犬 (inu): various kinds of dog.

From Old Japanese. Derivation uncertain. Various theories exist, including derivation from ancient verb 往ぬ ‎(inu, “to leave, to be gone”), from the way a dog will guard the house while the master is away; from a compound of 家 ‎(ie, “house, home”) + 寝 ‎(nu, “to sleep”, ancient monosyllabic form of modern 寝る neru); from ancient Japanese 狗 ‎(enu, “puppy, dog”), itself of uncertain derivation; or as a borrowing from some other unknown language.

Pronunciation

• Kun'yomi
• (Tokyo) いぬ​ [ìnúꜜ] (Odaka - [2])^[1][2]
• IPA^(key): [ĩnɯᵝ]

Alternative forms

• 狗

Noun

犬 ‎(counter 匹, hiragana いぬ, katakana イヌ, romaji inu)

1. dog; canine

   犬 (いぬ)に毎日餌 (まいにちえさ)を上 (あ)げて下 (くだ)さい。

   Inu ni mainichi esa o agete kudasai.

   Please feed the dog every day.

2. one who is loyal (like a dog)
3. a spy

References

1. ↑ 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9
2. ↑ 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, ISBN 978-4-14-011112-3

Korean

Hanja

犬 • ‎(gyeon)
Eumhun:

• Sound (hangeul): 견 (revised: gyeon, McCune-Reischauer: kyŏn, Yale: kyen)

• Name (hangeul): 개 견()

1. dog

Synonyms

• 개 (gae)

Derived terms

• 犬公 (견공, gyeongong) (personification)
• 犬馬 (견마, gyeonma) dog and horse
• 犬儒 (견유, gyeonyu) cynic
• 犬猿 (견원, gyeonwon) dog and monkey
• 猛犬 (맹견, maenggyeon) fierce dog
• 猛犬 (애견, aegyeon) pet dog
• 鬪犬 (투견, tugyeon) fighting dog

Miyako

Kanji

犬 ‎(hiragana いん, romaji in)

Etymology

Cognate with Old Japanese 犬 ‎(inu).

Noun

犬 ‎(hiragana いん, romaji in)

1. dog

Northern Amami-Oshima

Kanji

犬 ‎(hiragana いん, romaji in)

Etymology

Cognate with Old Japanese 犬 ‎(inu).

Noun

犬 ‎(hiragana いん, romaji in)

1. dog

Okinawan

Kanji

犬 ‎(hiragana いん, romaji in)

Etymology

Cognate with Old Japanese 犬 ‎(inu).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ʔiŋ̍]

Noun

犬 ‎(hiragana いん, romaji in)

1. dog

Compounds

Southern Amami-Oshima

Kanji

犬 ‎(hiragana いん, romaji in)

Etymology

Cognate with Old Japanese 犬 ‎(inu).

Noun

犬 ‎(hiragana いん, romaji in)

1. dog

Vietnamese

Han character

犬 (khuyển, chó, dặm)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.