How to Write 貍 (lí) — Meaning “raccoon dog / leopard cat”

Imagine a leopard cat hiding in a small village (里) — the 豸 radical reminds you it is a wild animal, and 里 sounds like "lee" as in "leopard." You can also think of the word "fox" (狐貍) and remember that 貍 shares its sound with the number 2 in Chinese (liǎng), helping you link it to animals.

When writing 貍, pay attention to the left radical 豸: it has a curved top stroke and a hook at the bottom that should not be too long. The right part 里 must be written with the 日 (sun) on top and 土 (earth) below, and keep the horizontal strokes evenly spaced to avoid making the character look unbalanced.

貍 (lí) refers to a raccoon dog or leopard cat, while 貂 (diāo) means a mink or sable, and 貅 (xiū) is a mythical beast (often paired with 貔 in 貔貅). Visually, the right components differ: 貍 has 里, 貂 has 召, and 貅 has 休 — so you can distinguish them by looking at the right side.

貍 is rarely used alone but appears in common compound words like 狐貍 (fox) and 貍猫 (leopard cat). In Chinese folklore, the 狐貍 spirit is a famous shapeshifting creature, so 貍 often appears in stories and idioms about clever or supernatural foxes.

Common words containing 貍 include: 狐貍 (hú lí) — Fox; 貍猫 (lí māo) — leopard cat / civet; 海貍 (hǎi lí) — Beaver.