How to Write 猖 (chāng) — Meaning “Savage / Wild”

Imagine a wild dog (犭) that has gone crazy because it sees two suns (昌) in the sky — that double sun makes it act savage. You can also remember that "chāng" sounds like "chunk" and think of a dog chewing wildly on a chunk of meat.

Write the radical 犭 first with three strokes: left-falling stroke, curved hook, then another left-falling stroke. Then add the right part 昌, which has two stacked 日 components — keep the top 日 slightly smaller than the bottom one to maintain balance. A common mistake is making the two 日 too wide, so keep them narrow and compact.

狊 (jú) has the radical 犬 (dog) with 目 (eye) underneath and means "to look" or refers to a type of monkey — visually it has an eye instead of two suns. 狠 (hěn) also uses 犭 but with 艮 (gèn) on the right, meaning "fierce" or "cruel" — while both express negative traits, 猖 focuses on wild, unrestrained behavior (like 猖狂), and 狠 emphasizes ruthlessness.

猖 is almost always used in compound words like 猖狂 (chāng kuáng, "savage and arrogant") and 猖獗 (chāng jué, "rampant and raging"), often describing negative situations such as bandits, diseases, or pests. It carries a strong negative connotation and is not used alone in daily conversation.

Common words containing 猖 include: 猖狂 (chāng kuáng) — Savage / Rampant; 猖獗 (chāng jué) — Rampant / Raging; 猖披 (chāng pī) — Disheveled / Unrestrained.