狗 (gǒu) is a Chinese character meaning “dog”. It is written from 犭 (dog / beast radical (side form of 犬)) and 句 (sentence; phrase), side by side, and takes 8 strokes.
Build the character for “dog”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
犭 + 句
Left–right structure
Structure from: 说文解字: 狗，孔子曰：狗，叩也。叩气吠以守。从犬句聲（现代字形分作 ⿰犭句，笔画分组据 hanzi-writer-data 3+5=8）
Memory aid
The beast radical (犭) on the left, a sentence (句) on the right: the animal that answers every sentence you say with a bark. Both parts are really written in this character.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
8 strokes
In real words
- 小狗xiǎo gǒupuppy; little dog狗 = gǒuspoken asxiáo gǒuHSK 1
- 狗叫gǒu jiàoa dog barks; barking of a dog狗 = gǒu
- 狗屎gǒu shǐdog poop; (vulgar) rubbish, nonsense狗 = gǒuspoken asgóu shǐ
Go deeper
All readings
dog
dog
一种常见的家养动物，嗅觉和听觉灵敏，会看家。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 小狗xiǎo gǒupuppy; little dog狗 = gǒuspoken asxiáo gǒuHSK 1
- 狗叫gǒu jiàoa dog barks; barking of a dog狗 = gǒu
- 狗屎gǒu shǐdog poop; (vulgar) rubbish, nonsense狗 = gǒuspoken asgóu shǐ
Sound component
句 family diverged
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 狗 mean?
狗 (gǒu) means dog.
How do you pronounce 狗?
It is pronounced gǒu.
What parts is 狗 made of?
犭 (dog / beast radical (side form of 犬)) and 句 (sentence; phrase), side by side. The recorded source is: 说文解字: 狗，孔子曰：狗，叩也。叩气吠以守。从犬句聲（现代字形分作 ⿰犭句，笔画分组据 hanzi-writer-data 3+5=8）. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 狗 have?
8. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 狗?
犬. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 狗?
Common ones are 小狗 and 狗叫. The reading of 狗 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.