foo dog
foo dog noun: a stylized lion statue similar to those usually placed in male and female pairs outside imperial Chinese palaces, tombs, temples, etc.
Noun (1)
foo dog (plural foo dogs)
- A stylized lion statue similar to those usually placed in male and female pairs outside imperial Chinese palaces, tombs, temples, etc.
- Passing to the central medallion, yet a new element confronts us in the Foo dogs, of which several are employed, somewhat crowded, and confused by reason of their coloring, which, nevertheless, is good and, so far as balance is concerned, well distributed.1916 March 1, John Kimberly Mumford, “Chinese Rugs”, in The Mentor, volume 4, number 2
- In the revival of Buddhism during Tang times (618–907), all Buddhist temples were protected by a pair of these stone lions. Eventually Foo dogs became popular at the entryways of homes, gardens, and places of business. Traditionally the Foo dogs were somewhat austere, unpainted stone sculptures...2014, Shelia Hollihan-Elliot, Art and Architecture of China, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN
- Synonyms:
- foo lion, guardian lion, stone lion, komainu
- A Pekingese dog.
Noun (2) capitalized: Foo dog
Foo dog (plural Foo dogs)
- Alternative letter-case form of foo dog
foo dog meaning in Vietnamese
foo dog in Vietnamese
- Chinese statue
- sư tử đá
Synonyms of foo dog
Forms of foo dog
| plural | foo dogs |
|---|---|
| alternative form | Foo dog |
| alternative form | fu dog |
| plural | Foo dogs |
Origin of foo dog
Possibly a Western invention, from Mandarin 福 (fú, “good fortune”) + English dog. There is no similar word in Chinese itself that uses the word 福 (fú), but see English foo and Foo. Compare also Chinese 佛 (“Buddha”), pronounced fo or fu in some varieties.
Questions about foo dog
- What does foo dog mean?
- Foo dog means a stylized lion statue similar to those usually placed in male and female pairs outside imperial Chinese palaces, tombs, temples, etc.
- What is foo dog in Vietnamese?
- Foo dog in Vietnamese is sư tử đá. See Foo dog meaning in Vietnamese.
- What part of speech is foo dog?
- Foo dog is a noun.
- What is the plural of foo dog?
- The plural of foo dog is foo dogs.
Words near foo dog in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: foo dog (page history and authors); Foo dog (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “foo dog.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/foo_dog. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.