宠物(chǒng wù) - pet in Mandarin

宠物 (chǒngwù) is a pet, an animal you keep and dote on rather than one that is working or wild. 宠 (chǒng) on its own means "to spoil, to dote on", so the compound literally names the animal you spoil.

The two most common examples are 狗 (gǒu, "dog") and 猫 (māo, "cat"), and the general question "does your family have a pet?" is exactly 你家有宠物吗? (nǐ jiā yǒu chǒngwù ma?), a very natural GCSE-style exchange.

The measure word for most pets is 只 (zhī): 一只宠物 (yì zhī chǒngwù), "a pet", the same measure word used for most small and medium animals.