Zi:牛

牛 [niú] ox/cattle; 母牛 cow, 公牛 bull, 牛犊 calf; 牛奶 milk; 牦/髦牛 yak; 牛肉 beef; (radical 93, 牛部); (HDZ:) … [niū] 水牛兒

2 monosyllabic entries in The ABC Chinese-English Comprehensive Dictionary (namespace Ci):

►niú* 牛 {A} n. ①cow; ox; cattle ②Surname ◆b.f. 〈environment:〉 coll. talk big; boast; brag ►chuīniú 吹牛 ◆s.v. 〈environment:〉 slang arrogant
►³niū 牛 char. ►shuǐniūr 水牛儿

The character 牛 (4 strokes) is an abbrev. of old forms, replacing the old upper strokes 屮 with the shape 𠂉 as in 告/吿, formerly wr. 𠰛 (cf. 朱, 制).
    The Shuōwén Seal form of 牛 niú ‘horned/humped-ox’ is said to depict the animal (封/峰/犎牛 fēngniú ‘zebu/humped-ox’), with three points above for the head and horns (𠂉/屮), with a horizontal line for the single ‘withers yoke’ (牛轭) in front of the shoulder blades (肩胛骨) and hump, and with the bottom of the vertical line for the tail (the legs/feet of the animal are not drawn, since they cannot be seen by the driver of the plow/oxcart).
    Note: In SW the shape of 牛 niú ‘horned/humped-ox’ is likened to that of 羊(𦍋) yáng ‘goat/sheep’, citing Confucius (cf. 羊); 牛 is assoc. with 南阳黄牛 ‘(humped) zebu, southern yellow cattle’ (Bos taurus indicus; cf. 犎, 角), and later also with 家牛 ‘(humpless) northern yellow cattle’ (Bos taurus taurus).
    Compare: 牿/梏 gù ‘ox's headboard/restraint’ (to prevent goring), formerly wr. 告(𠰛吿), in which the horizontal line of 牛 is assoc. with the headboard (rather than the withers yoke).
    Note: The received SW entry for 牛 is emended to begin with a visual pun on 事(𠭏) shì ‘do/deed/thing; ability’ (DYC), likening the strokes 屮 of 之(𡳿) at the top of 事 to those of 牛: strong as an ox, virile as a bull ox, able/powerful (能事) doer of deeds (士), valuable property/thing (物).
    Note: 倔强/犟 juéjiàng ‘obstinate/stubborn’ (stubborn as an ox).
    Note: For use of the character 牛 in the animal cycle (生肖), cf. 天干地支 tiāngān-dìzhī.
    Note: The depiction of an ox head in this entry is reproduced from a 商 Shāng bronze vessel (Lindqvist).
    Note: The component 牛 becomes 牜 on the left side (the last stroke 一 becomes ㇀).
    Compare: 半 bàn ‘half’; 告(𠰛吿) gào ‘tell/report’.
    HDZ: 牛 : niú : (SW: 大牲也, 牛件也; 件, 事理也; 像角頭三, 封尾之形; DYC: 事也, 理也, 像角頭三, 封尾之形也) (动物名) (牛科) (封/犎); 性格固执或倔犟/强; (星宿名) 牛宿 (αβ Capricorni); (星名) (简称) 牵牛星 (河鼓二, 牛郎星, 天鹰座α, Altair) ; (生肖) (cf. 鼠); (旧) (阴历) 牛日: 正月初五; (姓)
►references: Guǎngyùn:205.21; Wieger:132a; Henshall:97; Karlgren:AD673,GSR998a; Hànyǔ Dà Zìdiǎn:3.1800.1; Lindqvist:131; Mathews:4737; Kāngxī Zìdiǎn:697.01; Bǐshùn Guīfàn:007.1.06; Wáng(1993):52; EDOC:1
►components: 𠂉十
►Cantonese: ngauh\
►stroke 牛 (... strokes)
►list characters containing 牛 as a component
►list words containing 牛 (most common words first)
Unicode: U+725B
►web links for ‘牛’
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