How to Write 狼 (láng) — Meaning “wolf”

Imagine a wolf (狼) saying 'lang' as it howls at the moon, and think of the right part 良 as 'good' because the wolf is a good hunter. Another trick: picture the radical 犭 as a dog's head and 良 as its body.

Write the radical 犭 first: a left-falling stroke, then a hook, then a left-falling stroke. The right side 良 starts with a dot, then horizontal, vertical, horizontal, left-falling, and a right-falling stroke. A common mistake is making the right side too wide or forgetting the dot on top.

狼 (láng, wolf) has the right part 良, while 狉 (pī, a type of wild dog) has the right part 丕 (pī), and 狊 (jú, a kind of monkey) has the right part 犬 (quǎn). Visually, 狼 has a dot on top of the right side, but 狉 has a horizontal line under a left-falling stroke, and 狊 has a larger 'dog' component.

狼 commonly appears in words like 大灰狼 (dà huī láng, 'big bad wolf') from children's stories, and 狼群 (láng qún, 'wolf pack'). The word 色狼 (sè láng, 'pervert') uses the character to describe a dangerous person. In Chinese culture, wolves often symbolize fierceness, teamwork, or danger.

Common words containing 狼 include: 大灰狼 (dà huī láng) — Big bad wolf; 狼群 (láng qún) — wolf pack; 色狼 (sè láng) — pervert; lecher.