How to Write 豻 (àn) — Meaning “Wild dog / Prison”

Imagine a wild dog (豸) standing next to a dry (干) bone; the dog is guarding its dry bone in the wilderness. The sound "àn" sounds like "on" — picture the dog sitting on a bone. This visual helps link the beast radical with the dry component to mean wild dog.

Pay attention to the left radical 豸: it has a curved top stroke and a hook on the bottom right, and it is slightly wider than the right side. The right component 干 is simple, but make sure the horizontal stroke is level and does not cross into the left radical. A common mistake is making the radical too narrow or misplacing the final hook.

豻 means a wild dog or prison, while 豹 (bào) means leopard and 豺 (chái) means jackal or dhole. Visually, 豹 has a right side 勺 (spoon-like), and 豺 has 才 (talent), whereas 豻 uses 干. In usage, 豹 and 豺 are common animal names, but 豻 is very rare and appears mostly in ancient texts or compounds like 豻狱 (prison).

豻 is extremely rare in modern Chinese; it mainly appears in historical or literary contexts, such as in the word 豻狱 (àn yù), meaning prison. It can also be found in ancient names like 豻胡, referring to an ethnic group. Most Chinese speakers will not encounter this character in daily life, so it is considered a specialized or classical character.

Common words containing 豻 include: 豻狱 (àn yù) — Prison; 豻皮 (àn pí) — Wild dog skin; 豻胡 (àn hú) — Anhu (ancient ethnic group).