About
The character 猿, which refers to apes and monkeys, is constructed as a phono-semantic compound featuring the animal radical 犭 on the left and the phonetic component 袁 on the right, with the radical 犭, a derivative of 犬 meaning dog, serving to classify it within the realm of animals while 袁, originally associated with a long garment, primarily provides its pronunciation. Etymologically, this formation has been stable, and the character has consistently denoted simian primates throughout the history of the language, with an earlier variant written as 猨 using the phonetic 爰 appearing in some classical texts before 猿 became the dominant form. The semantic scope of 猿 has focused specifically on larger, often tailless primates, maintaining a distinct nuance from the more general term 猴 for monkeys without undergoing any substantial shift in its core meaning over the centuries.
Example Sentences Hide
那只猿很可爱。
猿在森林里生活。
猿人会使用工具。
科学家研究猿的行为。
猿猴的种类有很多。
这只猿学会了打开箱子。
猿类与人类有共同的祖先。
通过观察猿，我们可以了解早期人类的进化。