猪 (zhū) is a Chinese character meaning “pig”. It is written from 犭 (dog / beast radical (side form of 犬)) and 者 ("the one who"; a person or thing (as a suffix)), side by side, and takes 11 strokes.
Build the character for “pig”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
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Structure
犭 + 者
Left–right structure
- 犭 dog / beast radical (side form of 犬) · quǎn meaning
- 者 "the one who"; a person or thing (as a suffix) · zhě sound
Structure from: 说文解字: 豬，豕而三毛丛居者。从豕者声（现代字形以犭代豕作 ⿰犭者，笔画分组据 hanzi-writer-data 3+8=11）
Memory aid
An animal (犭) beside 者, "the one who" — the one who eats everything and snores in the pen: a pig.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
11 strokes
In real words
- 猪肉zhū ròupork猪 = zhū
- 猪圈zhū juànpigsty; pig pen猪 = zhū
Go deeper
All readings
pig
pig; hog; swine
一种家畜，身体肥，四肢短，鼻子和嘴较长，肉可以吃。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 猪肉zhū ròupork猪 = zhū
- 猪圈zhū juànpigsty; pig pen猪 = zhū
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 猪 mean?
猪 (zhū) means pig; hog; swine.
How do you pronounce 猪?
It is pronounced zhū.
What parts is 猪 made of?
犭 (dog / beast radical (side form of 犬)) and 者 ("the one who"; a person or thing (as a suffix)), side by side. The recorded source is: 说文解字: 豬，豕而三毛丛居者。从豕者声（现代字形以犭代豕作 ⿰犭者，笔画分组据 hanzi-writer-data 3+8=11）. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 猪 have?
11. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 猪?
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 猪?
Common ones are 猪肉 and 猪圈. The reading of 猪 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.