How to Write 倌 (guān) — Meaning “Groom; herdsman; assistant.”

Imagine a person (亻) wearing an official’s hat (官) — but instead of sitting in an office, he is out in the fields herding sheep or horses. So this "official" is actually a 倌, a hardworking animal keeper.

Write the radical 亻 first (two strokes: a slanted line then a vertical line). Then write 官: start with the roof 宀 (dot, dot, vertical), then the middle part (horizontal, vertical, horizontal fold, horizontal), and finally the bottom vertical and horizontal fold. A common mistake is making the right side too wide — keep 官 compact and balanced with the left radical.

Visually, 倌 has the right part 官 (meaning official), while 佩 has a different right component (a combination of 巾 and other strokes) and 佬 has 老 (old) on the right. In meaning, 倌 refers to a person who tends animals (shepherd, groom), 佩 means to wear or a pendant, and 佬 often indicates an older person or is used as a casual suffix for people (e.g., 阔佬 meaning rich guy).

倌 appears in words like 羊倌 (yáng guān, shepherd), 马倌 (mǎ guān, horse keeper), and 猪倌 (zhū guān, swineherd). These terms are somewhat old-fashioned and mostly used in rural settings, literature, or historical descriptions. Culturally, a 羊倌 is a traditional figure in Chinese folk songs and stories, often associated with simple country life.

Common words containing 倌 include: 羊倌 (yáng guān) — Shepherd; 马倌 (mǎ guān) — Groom; horse keeper; 猪倌 (zhū guān) — swineherd; pig keeper.