name of a variety of dog, wild tribes in South China
獞 centers on a specific dog breed name and, by extension, a historical term for certain non-Han ethnic groups in southern China. The two meanings are linked through the use of the dog radical as a classifier for animals and, in older usage, for ethnic labels.
獞 combines the animal radical 犭 with 童, which likely provides the sound トウ. The character was created to name a specific dog breed and later applied to ethnic groups, following a pattern where animal radicals were sometimes used in ethnonyms.
The animal radical 犭 hints at a dog, and 童 (child) suggests a young or small dog. Picture a child playing with a distinctive breed of dog, giving it the name 獞.
For トウ, imagine a child (童) calling the dog by tapping a toe on the ground: toe -> トウ, and the dog comes running.