What ⻁ means
No: it looks alike but is a different, indexing-only character. Chinese dictionaries group characters by a shared part called a radical. The classic system, from the Kangxi Dictionary of 1716, has 214 radicals, and tiger is number 141, usually drawn as 虍, the tiger’s head. ⻁ is a supplementary form of that radical, encoded in 1999 so dictionaries, textbooks and character charts can show radical forms as symbols.
Because it is a separate code, text containing ⻁ won’t match a search for 虎, and spellcheckers, translators and input methods don’t treat it as a word. If it turned up in a name, a tattoo design or copied text, replace it with 虎 unless you are writing about radicals.
Where does the tiger radical come from?
From a drawing of a tiger carved on Shang-dynasty oracle bones. The earliest 虎 shows the animal upright on its tail, with striped body and open jaws. Through bronze, seal and clerical scripts the drawing hardened into strokes, and the top part, 虍, kept the striped head. That head appears in characters such as 虐 (cruelty), 虚 (empty), 號 (to call), 處 (place) and 膚 (skin), sometimes for meaning and often only for sound.
Technical and reference-only: at home in radical tables and dictionaries, out of place in ordinary writing.
Using ⻁ for “tiger” in a name or text breaks search; type 虎.
Part of the collection
Don't confuse it with
3
Worth knowing
- The character 虐, “cruelty”, was explained in classical dictionaries as a tiger’s claws turned against a person.
Questions people ask
2Why does ⻁ show as an empty box?
Your font lacks it. Radical symbols are outside the characters most fonts cover; a full CJK font such as those built into Windows, macOS or Android usually shows it.
Can I use ⻁ in a username or tattoo?
It can be, but it is the wrong choice. It reads as 虎 yet won’t match searches, and a Chinese or Japanese reader expects 虎.
More like this
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How to type or find ⻁
- Also called
- tiger radical · radical 141 (variant)
- Search it as
- ⻁ · radical 141 · Kangxi radical 141 · 虍 · 虎 · tiger character Chinese · 虎字头
- Shows up in
- Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws
⻁\2EC1Codes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.