Etymology

foo dog

Today it means: A stylized lion statue similar to those usually placed in male and female pairs outside imperial Chinese palaces, tombs, temples, etc. Full definition →

Mandarin 福
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The story

  1. Mandarin · derived from福“good fortune”
  2. English todayfoo 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.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.