This kanji depicts an outline of dog lying its head upside.So this kanji means “dog”.And in case of this kanji is used as the radiclal with other parts of kanji, it comes to mean “animals”.
dog(犬)
lie down(伏)
silent(黙)
This kanji consists of two parts: the ‘black’ radical on the left (representing a vessel filled with soot) and the ‘dog’ radical on the right. It depicts a dog staying quiet in the dark, and therefore came to mean ‘to be silent’ or ‘to keep quiet.’