How to Write 肰 (rán) — Meaning “dog meat (ancient term)”

Imagine a dog (犬) standing next to a piece of meat (月), but instead of the dog eating the meat, the dog itself becomes the meat. Picture the dog's body transforming into a slab of meat on a plate.

The left side 月 must have two horizontal strokes inside, not three—a common error is adding an extra line. The right side 犬 ends with a hook stroke, and the dot on the top right should be placed clearly. Keep the left side slightly narrower for balance.

肰 has 犬 on the right, while 有 has 又 and means 'to have', and 朊 has 元 and is a modern term for a protein. 肰 is exclusively an ancient word for dog meat, whereas 有 and 朊 are still used today in different contexts.

肰 is almost never used in modern Chinese except in historical texts or ancient recipes about dog meat dishes. It appears in classical literature describing sacrificial offerings or archaic cuisine, but today people simply say 狗肉 (gǒu ròu). Learning 肰 is mainly useful for reading older Chinese texts.

Common words containing 肰 include: 肰肉 (rán ròu) — dog meat (archaic); 肰炙 (rán zhì) — roasted dog meat (ancient dish); 肰肰 (rán rán) — appearance of dog meat.