狸 (lí) is a Chinese character meaning “raccoon dog”. It is written from 犭 (dog / beast radical (side form of 犬)) and 里 (inside; li (unit of distance)), side by side, and takes 10 strokes.
Build the character for “raccoon dog; wild cat”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
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Structure
犭 + 里
Left–right structure
Structure from: 说文解字: 貍，伏獸，似貙。从豸里聲（今字形作 狸，现代字形分作 ⿰犭里，笔画分组据 hanzi-writer-data 3+7=10）
Memory aid
The beast radical (犭) crouching beside a village (里): a wild cat that sneaks into the village at night. Both parts are really written in this character.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
10 strokes
In real words
- 狐狸hú lífox狸 = líspoken ashú li
- 狸猫lí māoleopard cat狸 = lí
Go deeper
All readings
raccoon dog; wild cat
raccoon dog; leopard cat (wild cat); used in 狐狸 fox
哺乳动物，形状像猫，也指貉；常见于「狐狸」「狸猫」等词。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 狐狸hú lífox狸 = líspoken ashú li
- 狸猫lí māoleopard cat狸 = lí
Sound component
里 family tone diff
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 狸 mean?
狸 (lí) means raccoon dog; leopard cat (wild cat); used in 狐狸 fox.
How do you pronounce 狸?
It is pronounced lí.
What parts is 狸 made of?
犭 (dog / beast radical (side form of 犬)) and 里 (inside; li (unit of distance)), side by side. The recorded source is: 说文解字: 貍，伏獸，似貙。从豸里聲（今字形作 狸，现代字形分作 ⿰犭里，笔画分组据 hanzi-writer-data 3+7=10）. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 狸 have?
10. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 狸?
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 狸?
Common ones are 狐狸 and 狸猫. The reading of 狸 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.