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The (legendary) beast was mentioned in the ancient Chinese glossary Erya as 狻麑, a "devourer of tigers and leopards". It was also attested in the Mu Tianzi Zhuan (nominally from the Warring States period; however the textual history of the book was problematic). If correctly identified as a legendary account of the lion as later texts do, it may be a (partial) borrowing, possibly from a historical Iranian or Indo-Iranian language.
(Chinesemythology) mythological creature which is said to be a hybrid of lion and dragon, one of the nine sons of the dragon; said to either like to smoke and decorate incense burners, or like to sit down and decorate the thrones of Buddha statues
Coordinate terms
("sons of the dragon", creatures found in decorations):贔屭 / 赑屃(bìxì), 霸下(bàxià), 𧈢𧏡(bàxià), 螭虎(chīhǔ), 饕餮(tāotiè), 蜥蜴(xīyì), 睚眥 / 睚眦(yázì), 鴟吻 / 鸱吻(chīwěn), 虭蛥(diāoshé), 嘲風 / 嘲风(cháofēng), 蒲牢(púláo), 狴犴(bì'àn), 椒圖 / 椒图(jiāotú), 金吾(jīnwú), 囚牛(qiúniú)
