Shar-Pei

[ shahr-pey ]

noun

1. one of a Chinese breed of large muscular dogs having a distinctive wrinkly skin covered by a fawn to dark brown smooth coat, originally developed as a guard dog.

Shar Pei

/ ʃɑː ˈpeɪ /

noun

1. a compact squarely-built dog of a Chinese breed, with loose wrinkled skin and a harsh bristly coat

Word History and Origins

Origin of Shar-Pei¹

First recorded in 1975–80; from dialectal Chinese, equivalent to Chinese shā pí literally, “sand fur” (compare Guangdong dialect sā péi ); English spelling with r perhaps r-less speaker's representation of the vowel

Word History and Origins

Origin of Shar-Pei¹

C20: from Chinese shā pí , literally: sand skin