The dog radical — 犬 (quǎn)
A dog with its tail curled up — 大 (big) plus a dot. Written in full it appears on the right or bottom (哭 to cry, 状 condition, 臭 smelly); on the left it becomes 犭.
At a glance
- Radical
- 犬
- Pinyin
- quǎn
- Meaning
- Dog
- Strokes
- 4 (4 strokes section)
Stroke order
Characters built on 犬
Every character below contains 犬. Meanings come from the same dictionary that powers the translator; tap any character for its full dictionary entry — stroke order, every sense, examples and the words built from it.
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犬 — frequently asked questions
What does the Chinese radical 犬 mean?
犬 is pronounced quǎn and means "dog". It is written in 4 strokes. A dog with its tail curled up — 大 (big) plus a dot. Written in full it appears on the right or bottom (哭 to cry, 状 condition, 臭 smelly); on the left it becomes 犭.
Which characters use the 犬 radical?
Common examples include 哭 (kū, Cry (weep)), 状 (zhuàng, Shape (state - accusation - complaint - certificate)), 献 (xiàn, To offer), 臭 (chòu, Smelly (stink)). This page lists 5 of them with pinyin, meanings and audio.
How many strokes does 犬 have?
4. Radical dictionaries file it in the 4 strokes section, which is how you look up an unfamiliar character when you cannot guess its pronunciation.
Other 4-stroke radicals
Keep going
Search the other way round in the component character finder — pick 犬 plus another part you can see and get the characters that use both. Watch any of these characters being written in the Stroke Order Animator, practise them on printable 田字格 sheets, hunt radicals against the clock in Radical Hunt, or read the background in The 100 Most Common Chinese Radicals and Chinese Character Etymology.