犬
いぬ
hepburn inu
dog
Part of speech · noun
Pattern visualization
Examples
- 犬が好きです。I like dogs.
- 小さい犬を飼っています。I'm keeping a small dog.
Collocations
犬を飼う (kau, keep a dog)犬の散歩 (inu no sanpo, dog walk)子犬 (koinu, puppy)番犬 (banken, watchdog)犬小屋 (inugoya, doghouse)
Mnemonic
Inu — 犬, dog. The sound is Yamato. The kanji 犬 is Korean "gyeon" (as in 愛犬, 伴侶犬). 子犬 (koinu) reads directly: "child-dog" = puppy. Two kanji side by side, the meaning shows itself.
Quick check
"Keep a dog" vs "buy a dog" — both pronounced kau, but?