Learn Chinese Characters

Meaning

dog

Chinese: 狗这种动物。

Hear the Four Tones

The same syllable “gou” becomes a different word in each tone. 狗 is the 3rd tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.

Stroke Order

Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.

Common Words

  • 狗子gǒu zi(coll.) dog
  • 狗年gǒu niánYear of the Dog (e.g. 2006)
  • 小狗xiǎo gǒupup; puppy
  • 狗日gǒu rìlit. fucked or spawned by a dog; contemptible; lousy, fucking
  • 狗门gǒu méndog door; dog flap

Example Sentence

我家养了一只可爱的小狗。Wǒ jiā yǎng le yì zhī kě ài de xiǎo gǒu.My family keeps a cute little dog.

I家养jiā yǎngdomestic (animals)le(completed action)onezhīonly可爱kě àiadorabledeof小狗xiǎo gǒupup

Go deeper

Where this character comes from

The animal radical 犭 (a dog on its side) plus 句 (sound): the animal ‘dog’.

A way to remember it

The dog radical 犭 + a sound — a dog.

Easy to confuse with

  • māo‘Cat’: the same animal radical 犭, but with 苗 as the sound.