狠 (hěn) is a Chinese character meaning “ruthless”. It is written from 犭 (dog / beast radical (side form of 犬)) and 艮 (gèn — Kangxi radical 138; the trigram for mountain, also "stubborn"), side by side, and takes 9 strokes.
Build the character for “ruthless”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
犭 + 艮
Left–right structure
- 犭 dog / beast radical (side form of 犬) · quǎn meaning
- 艮 gèn — Kangxi radical 138; the trigram for mountain, also "stubborn" · gèn sound
Structure from: 说文解字：狠，吠鬥聲。从犬艮聲。现代字形按 hanzi-writer-data 笔画核验（犭3 + 艮6 = 9 笔）
Memory aid
The beast radical 犭 on the left, stubborn 艮 on the right: an animal that will not back down. That is 狠 — ruthless.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
9 strokes
In real words
- 狠心hěn xīnhard-hearted; to steel oneself to do something cruel狠 = hěn
- 凶狠xiōng hěnvicious; ferocious; savage狠 = hěn
Go deeper
All readings
ruthless
ruthless; fierce; cruel; to steel one's heart; (informal) intensely, hard
凶恶、残忍；也指下决心不顾情面地做某事。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 狠心hěn xīnhard-hearted; to steel oneself to do something cruel狠 = hěn
- 凶狠xiōng hěnvicious; ferocious; savage狠 = hěn
Sound component
艮 family onset shift
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 狠 mean?
狠 (hěn) means ruthless; fierce; cruel; to steel one's heart; (informal) intensely, hard.
How do you pronounce 狠?
It is pronounced hěn.
What parts is 狠 made of?
犭 (dog / beast radical (side form of 犬)) and 艮 (gèn — Kangxi radical 138; the trigram for mountain, also "stubborn"), side by side. The recorded source is: 说文解字：狠，吠鬥聲。从犬艮聲。现代字形按 hanzi-writer-data 笔画核验（犭3 + 艮6 = 9 笔）. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 狠 have?
9. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 狠?
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 狠?
Common ones are 狠心 and 凶狠. The reading of 狠 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.