Can anyone identify this character or symbol?

May 25, 2010 5:35 PM

I need some help identifying a character, I think it's Chinese but I'm completely unsure. Can anyone help? image here
posted by reverendjim to Writing & Language (11 answers total)

Yes. It is Chinese but I don't know the meaning. Could be an animal based on the first part of the character.
posted by yoyo_nyc at 5:38 PM on May 25, 2010

Yep, it's Chinese, and it means wolf. Pronounced like "lung" with a rising tone.
posted by hellopanda at 5:38 PM on May 25, 2010

Woohoo!!! I got it! Means wolf, at least in japanese.
posted by theDTs at 5:41 PM on May 25, 2010

Aw they beat me to it. :) It's a Chinese character, but remember that Japanese writing also uses Chinese characters, mixed with Japanese syllable-characters (kana)--recognizing those characters would let you distinguish written Chinese (pure Chinese) from written Japanese (mixed Chinese and Japanese).
posted by theDTs at 5:44 PM on May 25, 2010

I don't think it could be Japanese, I think it is simplified Chinese....
posted by yoyo_nyc at 5:54 PM on May 25, 2010

Ups. Wrong. Not simplified.
posted by yoyo_nyc at 5:58 PM on May 25, 2010

Here is the Kanji Dictionary I found it in. I was so excited because I'm studying Japanese so I was putting some practical knowledge (identifying the radical, counting the strokes) into use. I'm pretty sure you're right about the first part meaning "animal" or something to that effect. The second part means "food" or "eat"! This one will be easy to remember: "An animal that 'wolfs' down its food." or "Hungry like a wolf". :)
posted by theDTs at 6:03 PM on May 25, 2010

It's more likely Chinese than Japanese as Japanese often spells animals in katakana.
posted by thesailor at 7:06 PM on May 25, 2010

Wiktionary breakdown

It's Japanese. It's Chinese. It's Korean!
posted by circular at 7:19 PM on May 25, 2010

Yup, it means wolf. Here's the Chinese dictionary entry for it. It's the same whether you're writing simplified or traditional.
posted by millions of peaches at 7:34 PM on May 25, 2010

FYI, as far as this character's function in Japanese, it's not part of the daily use kanji, but is used in names.
posted by dubitable at 8:29 PM on May 25, 2010