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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

Chinese

狗

gǒu
dog (Classifier: 隻／只 m c mn; 條／条 m)
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 2
  • TOCFL 3
  • radical 犬
  • 8 strokes

Etymology graph

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  • borrowed
  • derived
  • parts
  • meaning component
  • sound component
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Origin

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *koːʔ): semantic 犬 (“dog”) + phonetic 句 (OC *koː, *koːs, *kos, *ɡo).

From some language ancestral to modern Hmong-Mien languages, from Proto-Hmong-Mien *qluwˣ (“dog”), perhaps from Proto-Austronesian *(u-)(ŋ)kuɣkuɣ (“dog”) (Norman, 1988; Benedict, 1996).

Alternatively, STEDT derives this from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *d-kʷəj-n (“dog”), whence also 犬 (OC *kʰʷeːnʔ).

Less likely, it may be related to 駒 (OC *ko, “foal”), 羔 (OC *kluː, “lamb”) and 𤘽 (“calf”) (Wang, 1982). Excavated Warring States and Qin texts attest 狗子 (gǒuzi, “puppy”) and 虎狗; the latter is distinguished from an adult 虎 by a lower reward in the Yuelu Qin manuscripts. This suggests that 狗 (gǒu), like its variant 豿 (gǒu), could also denote a young animal or cub.

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • derivedProto-Hmong-Mien*qluwˣ “dog”
    • derivedProto-Austronesian*(u-)(ŋ)kuɣkuɣ “dog”
    • inheritedProto-Sino-Tibetan*d-kʷəj-n “dog”
  • meaningChinese犬 “dog”
  • soundChinese句 “sentence; phrase”
    • meaningChinese丩 “to connect or graft a vine”
    • soundChinese口 “mouth, especially the lips and internal mouth cavity (Classifier: 把 c)”

Meanings

character
  1. dog (Classifier: 隻／只 m c mn; 條／条 m)
  2. Dog (Chinese zodiac sign)
  3. something or someone unpleasant
  4. Used as an attributive.
  5. a miserable person (used in compounds)
  6. obedient or overworked employee; workhorse; wage slave

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

狗：孔子曰：“狗，叩也。叩气吠以守。”从犬句聲。

Xu Shen, c. 100 CE — the first analytical dictionary of Chinese characters.

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 食肉犬科動物的通稱。嗅覺和聽覺都很靈敏，可經訓練後用來追蹤、守衛、導盲、救生或當寵物來飼養。因為其具有忠誠的特性，成為人類的好朋友。　◎

© Ministry of Education, Taiwan — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW, shown unaltered.

How 狗 was written 字形演變

  1. 狗 in Bronze script
    Bronze
    金文
    Shang–Zhou
  2. 狗 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  3. 狗 in Qin slips script
    Qin slips
    秦系簡牘
    Qin
  4. 狗 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  5. 狗 in Regular script
    Regular
    楷書
    since c. 200 CE

Historical forms collected by the legacy etymfun dataset; most characters have several attested variants.

Sources

  • Historical glyph forms (zdic.net 字形演变) — Rights unverified
  • HSK / TOCFL word lists — Facts (levels)
  • 教育部《國語辭典簡編本》 (Taiwan MOE) — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW
  • 說文解字 Shuowen Jiezi (Xu Shen, c. 100 CE) — Public domain
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 狗