宠物 (chǒng wù)

Character breakdown

• 宠 (chǒng) · 8 strokes

  Phonosemantic compound. 宀 represents the meaning and 龙 represents the sound. Simplified form of 寵.

• 物 (wù) · 8 strokes

  Phonosemantic compound. 牛 represents the meaning and 勿 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "variety", depicting the variety of colors on a cow. Later the meaning shifted to "things".