Word.ws English Dictionary

running dog

running dog noun: a lackey; a lapdog; an unprincipled person who helps or flatters other, more powerful and often evil people.

Noun

running dog (plural running dogs)

  1. (derogatory) A lackey; a lapdog; an unprincipled person who helps or flatters other, more powerful and often evil people.

running dog meaning in Vietnamese

running dog in Vietnamese

lackey
chó săn, tẩu cẩu

Forms of running dog

pluralrunning dogs

Origin of running dog

Calque of Chinese 走狗 (zǒugǒu, “running dog”) (see also 狗腿子 (gǒutuǐzi) and 狗腿 (gǒutuǐ)), used as an insult by the governments of the People's Republic of China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (주구/走狗 (jugu)) against those supportive of the great imperialist powers, variously including Russia and the United States. Though earlier use of the figurative sense of Chinese 走狗 dates back at least to the 18th century.

Questions about running dog

What does running dog mean?
Running dog means a lackey; a lapdog; an unprincipled person who helps or flatters other, more powerful and often evil people.
What is running dog in Vietnamese?
Running dog in Vietnamese is chó săn, tẩu cẩu. See Running dog meaning in Vietnamese.
What part of speech is running dog?
Running dog is a noun.
What is the plural of running dog?
The plural of running dog is running dogs.

Words near running dog in the dictionary

  1. running day
  2. running days
  3. running deep
  4. running dictation
  5. running dictations
  6. running dog
  7. running dogs
  8. running down
  9. running down the clock
  10. running dry
  11. running errands

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: running 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.

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