類

A phono-semantic compound:

犬 (“dog”) provides the semantic element, indicating “group, kind” (animals as categories);

頪 (roe/ryu, “similar, resembling”) provides the phonetic element.

類似 (유사) – resemblance, similarity;

人類 (인류) – humankind;

種類 (종류) – kind, category, type;

同類 (동류) – same kind, peer, similar group;

類推 (유추) – analogy, reasoning by similarity.

In modern philosophy, especially in Hegelian philosophy and Marxism, 類 carries the sense of “species, class, human essence,” making it a key conceptual term.