How to Write 犮 (bá) — Meaning “the character 'bá' (representing a running dog)”

Imagine a dog (犬) stretching one leg far forward as it runs, with the extra stroke representing that long, moving leg. The pronunciation 'bá' sounds like 'bar' as in a dog barking while running, which can help link the sound to the image.

Write 犮 with 5 strokes in this order: left-falling stroke, dot, horizontal stroke, left-falling stroke, and final dot. A common mistake is placing the first dot too low or mixing up the positions of the two dots—the first dot is above the horizontal line, and the final dot is at the bottom right.

犬 (quǎn) is the standard 'dog' character with a large dot on the upper right, while 犮 has an extra dot above the horizontal stroke, giving it a more dynamic look. 犭 is the left-side radical form used in compound characters like 狗 (gǒu), and it never appears alone like 犮 does.

犮 is very rare in modern Chinese and appears mostly in classical texts or set phrases like 犮落 (bá luò, meaning 'to fall behind'). It is not in the HSK vocabulary, and its usage is limited to describing a dog running swiftly in poetic or literary contexts.

Common words containing 犮 include: 犮犮 (bá bá) — running fast (describing a dog); 犮落 (bá luò) — to fall behind; to be neglected; 犮字 (bá zì) — the character 'bá'.