Additional information about 犬
說文解字: 【犬】，狗之有縣蹏者也。象形。孔子曰：視犬之字，如畫狗也。凡犬之屬皆从犬。 【苦泫切】
- Criteria
- DOG
1. The current general literary word for a dog is quǎn 犬.
2. Gǒu 狗 is a colloquial word for a dog (according to some early commentators a small dog, and it is plausible that the colloquial word may have referred to the small dog in particular).
3. Máng 尨 refers to a shaggy, mangy dog, and this rare word has an archaic and poetic flavour.
NB: The various other designations for dogs recorded in early dictionaries are not in general use.
Inicdentally, already in Han times dogs' meat was regarded a delicacy. Fan Kuai 樊噲, the aide to the first emperor of the Han, was a dog-butcher.