All creatures big and small in Chinese writing
Last updated: 09 Mar 2021
This article is part of a compendium of 3500 characters.
(This article has been converted into a course at this Facebook group.)
Please ensure you know these foundational concepts before reading this article:
- Radicals: indexing radicals, abbreviated radicals, improvised radicals
- Writing strokes: our 7 Stroke Types nomenclature
(“right down throw press dot rise hook”) - Character construction principles: pictorial, semantic, phonetic, and combinations thereof.
Keep these 2 reference sources at hand when you read this article:
- 汉字部首表 (Table of Indexing Chinese Character Components)
(We will refer to this as “Table of Radicals”.) - 通用规范汉字表 (Table of General Standard Chinese Characters)
(We will refer to this as “Table of Characters”.)
In this article, we will discuss 3 radicals that are used in character construction for characters that indicate creatures.
- Radical ‘犭’ (“dog”, quan3, radical 42.a).
- Radical ‘虫’ (“worm”, chong2, radical 131).
- Radical ‘豸’ (“legendary best”, radical 163).
Radical ‘犭’ (“dog”, quan3, radical 42.a) usually refers to mammals. Radical ‘虫’ (“worm”, chong2, radical 131) usually refers to pest-like creatures. Radical ‘豸’ (“legendary beast”, zhi4, radical 163) usually refers to “mythics” (a word I coin for creatures that seem mythical).
Other radicals that indicate creatures are more straightforward and specific. There are those regarding 4-legged ruminants: ‘马’ (“horse”, ma3), ‘牛’ (“cow or bull”, niu2) and ‘羊’ (“sheep”, yang2). Also straightforward are ‘鼠’ (“rodent”, shu3), ‘鱼’ (“fish”, yu2) and ‘鸟’ (“bird”, niao3). We won’t discuss these radicals here.
Radical ‘犭’ (“dog”) generally means “mammal”
The radical ‘犭’ (“dog”, quan3, radical 42.a) derives from character ‘犬’ (“dog”, quan3, character 92). We will first explore how character ‘犬’ (“dog”, quan3) is constructed, which will aid us in figuring out and memorizing how radical ‘犭’ (“dog”, quan3, radical 42.a) is constructed.
Character construction for ‘犬’ (“dog”)
Although the pictorial construction for character ‘犬’ (“dog”, quan3) had gone through tremendous change, the earliest form is ironically very similar to the current form.
The current form for ‘犬’ (“dog”, quan3) retains the long snout and tail (highlighted red) and the legs (highlighted blue).
Note the triangular shape that depicts a long snout.
In terms of standardized writing strokes, the character consists of ‘大’ (“big”, da4, character 32) and a “dot”.
Derivation of radical ‘犭’ (“dog”)
The abbreviation of character ‘犬’ (“dog”, quan3) into radical ‘犭’ (“dog”, quan3, radical 42.a) involves slanting and wrapping.
Slanting (highlighted blue) is done so the form becomes oblique and takes up less space. Wrapping (highlighted red) the “tail” portion tucks it neatly to the left.
Use of radical ‘犭’ (“dog”): literally a “dog”
It is likely that radical ‘犭’ (quan3, radical 42.a) originally only stood for “dog”. That semantic link is still evident today in many characters, such as ‘狗’ (“dog”, gou3, character 1198) and possibly also ‘猎’ (“to hunt”, lie4, character 2366).
In character ‘狗’ (“dog”, gou3), the radical ‘犭’ (quan3, radical 42.a) literally contributes the meaning of “dog”. The improvised radical ‘句’ (“(verbal) sentence”, ju4, character 288) provides phonetic construction in ‘狗’ (“dog”, gou3) because earlier times saw ‘句’ (“sentence”, ju4) pronounced like ‘勾’ (“hook”, gou1, character 158).
(TODO: Link to evolution of characters ‘句’ (“sentence”, ju4) and ‘勾’ (“hook”, gou1). Involves a late-stage collision avoidance.)
In character ‘猎’ (“to hunt”, lie4), the radical ‘犭’ (quan3, radical 42.a) likely means we “use the aid of dogs for hunting”.
(TODO: Link to character construction for ‘猎’ (“to hunt”, lie4), which requires a deep dive into its Traditional form.)
Use of radical ‘犭’ (“dog”): to cover “mammal”
The semantics of radical ‘犭’ (quan3, radical 42.a) was subsequently expanded to cover “mammal”. Whether this was due to inadequate understanding of zoology or some other reason, we might never know for sure.
The character ‘狮’ (“lion”, shi1, character 1601) features radical ‘犭’ (quan3, radical 42.a) likely as a semantic contribution for “mammal” (not “dog”). Lions are feline, not canine.
(TODO: Link to character construction for ‘狮’.)
Radical ‘虫’ (“worm”) generally means “pest-like creature”
The radical ‘虫’ (“worm”, chong2, radical 131) is visually identical to the character it derives from: ‘虫’ (“worm”, chong2, character 423). That should make this radical easier to learn.
Unfortunately, the semantic drift for ‘虫’ (“worm”, radical 131) is considerable. We should start from the beginning.
Character construction for ‘虫’ (“worm”)
Early forms for ‘虫’ (“worm”, chong2) meant “snake”. These forms also looked like snakes.
Possibly because an old character ‘乚’ (hao2, today ‘毫’, character 2376) was already designated at the time to mean “fine measure”, the old form for ‘虫’ had its tail end (highlighted red) turned into sharp angles. The protrusion (highlighted blue) at the top further emphasizes the “arrow-like head” of the snake.
Semantics of ‘虫’: pest-like creature
The semantics of both the radical and character ‘虫’ (chong2, radical 131, character 423) drifted beyond “snake”, and is today no longer indicative of “snake”.
Skipping through historical semantic drift to come to contemporary use, the radical and character makes an easy semantic jump to “worm”, a creature long-shaped like snakes. The Chinese word for “insect” is “昆虫”, where ‘昆’ (kun1, character 1080) means “many, multitude”, whereas the word for “worm” is simply “虫” (chong2).
(TODO: Link to character construction for ‘昆’.)
The semantic contribution of radical ‘虫’ (“worm”, chong2, radical 131) in character construction has come to refer to “pest-like creature”, such as in “snake” (‘蛇’, she2, character 2280).
Even mammals like “bat” (“蝙蝠”, bian1 fu2, characters 3251 and 3247) feature the radical.
Pest-likeness even includes creepy crawlies that are delicacies, such as “crab” (“螃蟹”, pang2 xie4, characters 3347 and 3464) and “prawn” (‘虾’, xia1, character 1498). I don’t know if we’ll ever eat “spider” (“蜘蛛”, zhi1 zhu1, characters 3108 and 2635).
(TODO: Link to character construction for ‘蛇’, “蝙蝠”, “螃蟹”, “蜘蛛” and ‘虾’.)
Radical ‘豸’ (“legendary beast”, zhi4): the mythics
The 3rd and last creature-related radical we discuss is ‘豸’ (“legendary beast”, zhi4, radical 163).
Character construction for ‘豸’ (“legendary beast”)
An early form of the radical seems to show a beast with unusually large ears, seemingly large enough to give the power of flight.
The fantastical shape of the creature’s head (highlighted blue) is preserved in today’s form. The tail (highlighted red) is wrapped to the left — just like the tail for character ‘犬’ (“dog”, quan3) in abbreviating to radical ‘犭’ (radical 42.a).
The stroke order for this radical can be seen in character ‘豹’ (“leopard”, bao4, character 1989). (No, I don’t know any leopards that fly.)
Next, we discuss how this character features in character construction.
Semantics of ‘豸’: exotic creatures
When studying Chinese and Chinese culture, one of the first mythical creatures we come across is “貔貅” (“Pixiu”, pi2 xiu1, characters 6271 and 5514). Legend has it that this creature resembles a winged lion, has a voracious appetite for fortune (gold, silver, jewels and the like), and has a sealed anus. The blocked digestive tract is believed to mean the creature regurgitates all gathered wealth at your house, instead of digesting them. (Beat that, unicorns and leprechauns!)
Given that ancient Chinese probably didn’t have many sightings of mythical beasts, the radical ‘豸’ (“legendary beast”, zhi4) moved on to denote “exotic creatures”. A quick glance through the few characters featuring this radical seems to confirm this exotic theme.
The “leopard” (‘豹’, bao4, character 1989) seems exotic enough to deserve this radical. Other creatures include the “tapir” (‘貘’, mo4, character 6269), possibly an exotic form of pig to ancient Chinese, and the “dhole” (‘豺’, chai2, character 1988), an exotic type of dog I didn’t even know about!
(TODO: Link to character construction for ‘豹’ and ‘豺’.)
We’ve studied the 3 most widely used radicals that denote creatures in a way that isn’t straightforward nor specific. The most widely used is ‘虫’ (“worm”, chong2, radical 131), given that “pest-like creatures” are possibly more abundant in number than “mammals” which are indicated by ‘犭’ (“dog”, quan3, radical 42.a).
A rarely used radical, but still featuring in common characters, is ‘豸’ (“legendary beast”, zhi4, radical 163), as seen in ‘豹’ (“leopard”, bao4, character 1989).
