How to Write 狸 (lí) — Meaning “raccoon dog / fox-like animal”

Imagine a raccoon dog (a 狸) sneaking 'inside' (里) a campsite, and its paw prints look like the animal radical 犭. So 犭 + 里 = a wild animal that hides inside places. This visual helps link the shape to the meaning.

Write the left radical 犭 with three strokes: a left-falling stroke, a curved hook, then a second left-falling stroke – keep it narrow and tall. The right part 里 has seven strokes; start with a vertical line, then the frame, and finish with two horizontal lines at the bottom. Common mistake is making the left side too wide; the right 里 should be slightly wider.

狸 uses 里 for sound and means raccoon dog, while 狉 (pī) uses 丕 and refers to a rare wolf-like animal, and 狊 (jú) uses 目 and means 'to look at' or a kind of monkey. In practice, 狸 is common in animal names, but 狉 and 狊 are very rare in modern Chinese.

狸 appears in common animal names like 狐狸 (fox), 狸猫 (leopard cat), and 果子狸 (masked palm civet). It also appears in the Chinese idiom '狸猫换太子' (swapping a leopard cat for the crown prince), a famous historical legend. So 狸 is mostly used as a part of compound words for wild cat-like animals.

Common words containing 狸 include: 狐狸 (hú lí) — Fox; 狸猫 (lí māo) — leopard cat; 果子狸 (guǒ zi lí) — masked palm civet.