猴
hoú · HSK 5
monkey
🐒 猴 = 犭(animal radical) + 侯 (marquis, phonetic for hóu)
The 犭 radical on the left marks 猴 as an animal. The right side 侯 (marquis) supplies the sound hóu — a classic phono-semantic compound. So 猴 literally reads as animal + hóu-sound = monkey.
猴 — dog radical 犭 + 侯 hóu (phonetic)
猴 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The dog radical 犭 signals an animal (used broadly for mammals), while 侯 hóu supplies the sound. The character was created specifically to write the word for 'monkey', distinguishing it from 侯 'marquis'.