牛

Translingual

Stroke order

Stroke order

Alternative forms

• 牜 (U+725C) - used as a left radical component (not a standalone character)
• 𠂒 (U+20092) - sometimes used as a top component

Han character

See images of
Radical 93 牛

牛 (Kangxi radical 93, 牛+0, 4 strokes, cangjie input 竹手 (HQ), four-corner 2500₀, composition ⿻𠂉十)

1. Kangxi radical #93, ⽜.
2. Shuowen Jiezi radical №19

Derived characters

• Appendix:Chinese radical/牛
• 件, 吽, 𡉯, 𫰔, 𡵜, 𢓐, 𢪧, 汼, 𭷽, 𨸡, 𨑴, 𣅫, 㭌, 犇, 𣧘, 𣬳, 𤰼, 𥝫, 䋅, 𦧋, 𧉖, 𧣈, 𧥸, 𧲤, 鈝, 𮓤 ,䭽, 𩲍, 𩵠, 𩿓, 䵓, 𬨹
• 吿, 𭇤, 𡕘, 䒜, 𣁄, 𪺝, 㽚, 窂, 荦, 𬙮, 𧢻, 𤛗, 𤵃, 𨳯, 制

See also

• 先, 告

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 697, character 1
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 19922
• Dae Jaweon: page 1108, character 16
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 1800, character 1
• Unihan data for U+725B

Chinese

Wikipedia has articles on:

• 牛 (Written Standard Chinese^?)
• 牛 (Cantonese)
• 牛 (Classical)
• gû (Southern Min)
• 牛 (Wu)

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 牛
Shang	Western Zhou	Warring States	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Pictogram (象形) .

Etymology

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ŋwa.

Pronunciation

Definitions

牛

1. bovine, e.g. cow, bull, ox, buffalo, bison, yak (Classifier: 頭／头 m c mb md; 條／条 m g h x; 隻／只 m c g mn w x)
2. beef

   乾炒牛河／干炒牛河  ―  gānchǎo niúhé  ―  beef chow fun

   蛋牛治 [Cantonese]  ―  daan^6-2 ngau^4-2 zi⁶   ―  beef and egg sandwich

3. stubborn; pigheaded
4. (colloquial) arrogant
5. (Mainland China, Mandarin, slang) awesome; powerful

   牛屄  ―  niúbī  ―  awesome

   牛人  ―  niúrén  ―  an awesome person

6. (～宿) (Chinese astronomy) Ox (one of Twenty-Eight Mansions)
7. (physics) Short for 牛頓／牛顿 (niúdùn, “newton”).
8. (Hong Kong Cantonese, computing) Short for 火牛 (“transformer”). (Classifier: 隻／只 c)
9. a surname

   牛僧孺  ―  Niú Sēngrú  ―  Niu Sengru (Tang politician)

Synonyms

• (beef): 牛肉 (niúròu)
• (awesome):

• (transformer):

Descendants

• Wutunhua: nek

Compounds

See also

• (Chinese zodiac signs) 鼠 (shǔ), 牛 (niú), 虎 (hǔ), 兔 (tù), 龍／龙 (lóng), 蛇 (shé), 馬／马 (mǎ), 羊 (yáng), 猴 (hóu), 雞／鸡 (jī), 狗 (gǒu), 豬／猪 (zhū) ^{(Category: zh:Chinese zodiac signs)}

References

• “Entry #1228”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2023.

Japanese

Kanji

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Japanese Wikipedia has an article on:

牛

Wikipedia ^ja

1. cow, ox, cattle

Readings

• Go-on: ぐ (gu)
• Kan-on: ぎゅう (gyū, Jōyō)^{←ぎう (giu, historical)}
• Kan’yō-on: ご (go)
• Kun: うし (ushi, 牛, Jōyō)

Compounds

Etymology 1

From Old Japanese, from Proto-Japonic *Osi.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) うし (Heiban – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

牛(うし) or 牛(ウシ) • (ushi) 

1. cow, bull, ox, cattle, a domestic bovine

   Synonyms: (dialectal, Tohoku) べこ, (dialectal, Akita, Sendai, Shimokita, Tsugaru) べご, (dialectal, Kagoshima) べぶ

   • 1999 November 18, “牛(ぎゅう)魔(ま)人(じん)”, in Vol.6, Konami:

     森(もり)に住(す)む牛(うし)の魔(ま)人(じん)。ツノを突(つ)き出(だ)し突(とっ)進(しん)して攻(こう)撃(げき)。

     Mori ni sumu ushi no majin. Tsuno o tsukidashi tosshin shite kōgeki.

     A bovine jinn who resides in the woods. He’ll charge at you and stick you with his horns.

   • 1999 December 1, “ミノタウルス [Minotaurus]”, in BOOSTER 6, Konami:

     すごい力(ちから)を持(も)つウシの怪(かい)物(ぶつ)。オノひと振(ふ)りで何(なに)でもなぎ倒(たお)す。

     Sugoi chikara o motsu ushi no kaibutsu. Ono hitofuri de nani demo nagitaosu.

     A bovine monster with tremendous power who chops up anyone in his way with one axe swing.

2. beef

Usage notes

As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana, especially in biological contexts (where katakana is customary), as ウシ.

Derived terms

• 丑(うし) (ushi)

Etymology 2

From Middle Chinese 牛 (ngjuw, “cow”). Compare Hokkien 牛 (giû / ngiû).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) ぎゅ​う (Atamadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

牛(ぎゅう) • (gyū) ^{←ぎう (giu)?}

1. cow, bull, ox, cattle
2. beef
3. (astronomy) Ox

References

Korean

Hanja

牛 (eumhun 소 우 (so u))

1. Hanja form^? of 우 (“cow”).

Compounds

• 와우 (蝸牛, wau, “snail”)
• 우유 (牛乳, uyu, “cow's milk”)

Okinawan

Kanji

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

• Kun: うし (ushi, 牛, Jōyō)

Etymology

From Proto-Ryukyuan *Osi, from Proto-Japonic *Osi.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʔuɕi/

Noun

牛(うし) (ushi) 

1. cow, cattle

Derived terms

References

• “うし【牛】” in JLect - Japonic Languages and Dialects Database Dictionary, 2019.

Vietnamese

Han character

牛: Hán Nôm readings: ngưu, ngọ, ngỏ, ngõ, ngâu

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Yonaguni

Kanji

牛 (hiragana うち, romaji uchi)

Etymology

From Proto-Ryukyuan *Osi, from Proto-Japonic *Osi.

Noun

牛 (hiragana うち, romaji uchi)

1. cow, cattle

References

• “うち【牛】” in JLect - Japonic Languages and Dialects Database Dictionary, 2019.