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黑狗 (hēi gǒu) — (historical, derogatory) puppet troops and police collaborating with Japanese forces in 1920s–1930s China

Definition

A historical, derogatory term (1920s–30s) for Chinese puppet troops and police who collaborated with the Japanese occupiers — it literally means 'black dog' and was used as an insult, not a neutral label.

noun
(historical, derogatory) puppet troops and police collaborating with Japanese forces in 1920s–1930s China

Examples

  • ，黑狗。
    Kàng rì zhàn zhēng shí qī, lǎo bǎi xìng zuì hèn de jiù shì hēi gǒu.
    During the War of Resistance against Japan, the common people hated the puppet troops the most.
  • 黑狗。
    Nà bù xiǎo shuō lǐ miáo xiě le hēi gǒu qī yā bǎi xìng de qíng jǐng.
    That novel depicts scenes of the puppet police oppressing the people.
  • ，黑狗。
    Lì shǐ jì zǎi zhōng, hēi gǒu wǎng wǎng chōng dāng rì běn de bāng xiōng.
    In historical records, the puppet troops often served as accomplices to the Japanese.

Origin

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.

黑hēiblack
狗gǒudog

The image of a black dog was used for police and puppet troops.

Characters in this word

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

The shape of 黑 seems to come from drawing a head marked with dots, usually read as facial tattoos.

Open 黑 →

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
犬犬quǎndog
Sound part声符shēngfú
句
句jù狗gǒu
Same sound today

狗 combines 犬, meaning dog, with 句, which gives the sound.

Open 狗 →
Appears in
HistoryMilitary & Defense

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