家犬 (jiā quǎn) — domestic dog; family dog

Definition

noun

domestic dogfamily dog

Measure word · 只

家犬。
Tā yǎng le yì zhī jiā quǎn.
He keeps a domestic dog.
家犬。
Zhè tiáo jiā quǎn hěn tīng huà.
This family dog is very obedient.
家犬家犬。
Chéng shì lǐ de jiā quǎn hé xiāng cūn lǐ de jiā quǎn xìng gé bù tóng.
Domestic dogs in the city and in the countryside have different temperaments.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

“家” means home or domestic and “犬” means dog, together giving a dog kept at home.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

宀宀miánroof

Sound part声符shēngfú

𢑓

𢑓𢑓家jiā

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The early drawing of 家 showed a roof 宀 over a male-pig sign 𢑓 that gave the pronunciation; the lower part later changed shape.

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

犬 is a drawing of a dog seen from the side.