吠

fèi

口 + 犬

Definitions

fèi to bark

Etymology

The sound a dog 犬 makes with their mouth 口

About

The character 吠 (fèi) is an ideogrammatic compound denoting a dog's bark. It combines the semantic radicals 口 (kǒu, mouth) on the left and 犬 (quǎn, dog) on the right, visually representing a canine vocalizing. While its primary meaning is the literal sound a dog makes, it is also used metaphorically in literature to describe clamorous or aggressive verbal attacks from human adversaries.

Etymology Hide

Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)

Seal Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)

Traditional Modern

Simplified Modern

Example Sentences Hide

那只狗在吠叫。

Nà zhī gǒu zài fèijiào.

That dog is barking.

小狗对着陌生人吠叫。

Xiǎo gǒu duìzhe mòshēng rén fèijiào.

The little dog barks at strangers.

夜晚，狗吠声很吵。

Yèwǎn, gǒu fèi shēng hěn chǎo.

At night, the sound of dog barking is very noisy.

狂吠的狗吓跑了小偷。

Kuángfèi de gǒu xiàpǎo le xiǎotōu.

The wildly barking dog scared away the thief.

邻居的狗整天吠叫，让人心烦。

Línjū de gǒu zhěngtiān fèijiào, ràng rén xīnfán.

The neighbor's dog barks all day, which is annoying.

听到门外有吠叫声，他去查看。

Tīng dào mén wài yǒu fèijiào shēng, tā qù chákàn.

Hearing barking sounds outside the door, he went to check.

即使训练有素的狗，有时也会吠叫。

Jíshǐ xùnliàn yǒu sù de gǒu, yǒushí yě huì fèijiào.

Even well-trained dogs sometimes bark.

在寂静的森林里，狗的吠叫声显得格外清晰。

Zài jìjìng de sēnlín lǐ, gǒu de fèijiào shēng xiǎndé géwài qīngxī.

In the quiet forest, the sound of dog barking appears especially clear.

Related Characters

Component: 口

Component: 犬

吠