猪

豬

zhū

犭 + 者

HSK 2.0Level 5

HSK 3.0Level 5

Definitions

zhū (noun) pig; hog; swine

Etymology

Phonosemantic compound. 犭 represents the meaning and 者 represents the sound. Simplified form of 豬.

Semantic: 犭 Phonetic: 者

About

猪 (zhū) 'pig' is a phono-semantic compound and the simplified form of 豬. The left component 犭 is a variant of 犬 (quǎn) 'dog', used here as a generic animal radical to classify the character as a beast or mammal. The right component 者 (zhě) indicates the pronunciation. In the traditional character 豬, the semantic role is played by 豕 (shǐ) 'pig', which offers a more direct pictorial link to the animal. Both simplified and traditional forms share 者 as the phonetic. The character refers to domestic pigs and commonly appears in agricultural contexts and culinary terms for pork.

Etymology Hide

Bronze Late Warring States (~250 BC)

Seal Chu (Warring States: 475-221 BC)

Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical Qin dynasty (221-206 BC)

Seal Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)

Clerical Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Traditional Modern

Simplified Modern

Example Sentences Hide

这是一头猪。

Zhè shì yī tóu zhū.

This is a pig.

猪在农场里。

Zhū zài nóngchǎng lǐ.

The pig is on the farm.

我们吃猪肉。

Wǒmen chī zhūròu.

We eat pork.

小猪很可爱。

Xiǎo zhū hěn kě'ài.

The piglet is very cute.

农民养了许多猪。

Nóngmín yǎngle xǔduō zhū.

Farmers raised many pigs.

猪肉是常见的肉类。

Zhūròu shì chángjiàn de ròulèi.

Pork is a common type of meat.

这只猪正在泥地里打滚。

Zhè zhī zhū zhèngzài nídì lǐ dǎgǔn.

This pig is rolling in the mud.

养猪业在农村经济中很重要。

Yǎng zhū yè zài nóngcūn jīngjì zhōng hěn zhòngyào.

The pig farming industry is very important in the rural economy.

Related Characters

Composed characters:

Component: 犭

Component: 者

猪