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Definition 2024


See also:

Translingual

Stroke order

Alternative forms

  • (when used as a left Radical)

Han character

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

  1. Kangxi radical #93, (cow).
  2. Shuōwén Jiězì radical №19

Derived characters

  • Index:Chinese radical/牛

References

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

Chinese

simp. and trad.

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character
Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Bamboo and silk script Large seal script Small seal script

Pictogram (象形) .

Etymology

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ŋwa.

Pronunciation



  • Dialectal data
Variety Location
Mandarin Beijing /niou³⁵/
Harbin /niou²⁴/
Tianjin /niou⁴⁵/
Jinan /ȵiou⁴²/
Qingdao /niou⁴²/
Zhengzhou /niou⁴²/
/ou⁴²/
Xi'an /niou²⁴/
Xining /ȵiɯ²⁴/
Yinchuan /niəu⁵³/
Lanzhou /ȵiou⁵³/
Ürümqi /ȵiɤu⁵¹/
Wuhan /niəu²¹³/
Chengdu /ȵiəu³¹/
Guiyang /niəu²¹/
Kunming /niəu³¹/
Nanjing /liəɯ²⁴/
Hefei /liɯ⁵⁵/
Jin Taiyuan /niəu¹¹/
Pingyao /ȵiəu¹³/
Hohhot /niəu³¹/
Wu Shanghai /ȵiɤ²³/
Suzhou /ȵiɤ¹³/
Hangzhou /ȵiø²¹³/
Wenzhou /ŋau³¹/
Hui Shexian /niu⁴⁴/
Tunxi /ȵiu⁴⁴/
Xiang Changsha /ȵiəu¹³/
Xiangtan /ȵiəɯ¹²/
Gan Nanchang /ȵiu⁴⁵/
/ŋiɛu⁴⁵/
Hakka Meixian /ŋiu¹¹/
Taoyuan /ŋiu¹¹/
Cantonese Guangzhou /ŋɐu²¹/
Nanning /ŋɐu²¹/
Hong Kong /ŋɐu²¹/
Min Xiamen (Min Nan) /giu³⁵/
/gu³⁵/
Fuzhou (Min Dong) /ŋu⁵³/
Jian'ou (Min Bei) /niu³³/
Shantou (Min Nan) /gu⁵⁵/
Haikou (Min Nan) /ku³¹/

Rime
Character
Reading # 1/1
Initial () (31)
Final () (136)
Tone (調) Level (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open
Division () III
Fanqie
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang
/ŋɨu/
Pan
Wuyun
/ŋiu/
Shao
Rongfen
/ŋiəu/
Edwin
Pulleyblank
/ŋuw/
Li
Rong
/ŋiu/
Wang
Li
/ŋĭəu/
Bernard
Karlgren
/ŋi̯ə̯u/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)
niú
Middle
Chinese
‹ ngjuw ›
Old
Chinese
/*[ŋ]ʷə/ (< uvular?)
English ox

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter-Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
* Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
* Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

* Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character
Reading # 1/1
No. 9564
Phonetic
component
Rime
group
Rime
subdivision
0
Corresponding
MC rime
Old
Chinese
/*ŋʷɯ/

Definitions

  1. cow; bull; ox; buffalo (general name for bovine animals)
  2. beef
    乾炒 / 干炒   qiánchǎoniú   beef chow fun
  3. stubborn; pigheaded
  4. (colloquial) arrogant
  5. (slang) awesome; powerful
       niú   [vulgar] awesome
       niúrén   an awesome person
  6. (astronomy) the Ox, a Chinese constellation near Capricorn
  7. (physics) Short for 牛頓牛顿 (niúdùn, “newton”).
  8. A surname.

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of (“cattle; cow”)
Variety Location Words
Classical Chinese
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)
Taxonomic name
Mandarin Beijing
Jinan
Xi'an
Wuhan
Chengdu
Yangzhou
Hefei
Cantonese Guangzhou
Hong Kong
Yangjiang
Gan Nanchang
Hakka Meixian
Miaoli (N. Sixian) 牛仔
Liudui (S. Sixian) 牛仔
Hsinchu (Hailu)
Dongshi (Dabu)
Zhuolan (Raoping)
Yunlin (Zhao'an)
Jin Taiyuan 、牛兒
Min Bei Jian'ou
Min Dong Fuzhou
Min Nan Quanzhou
Xiamen
Zhangzhou
Taipei
Kaohsiung
Chaozhou
Wu Suzhou
Wenzhou
Xiang Changsha 、寶耕
Shuangfeng

Compounds


Japanese

Kanji

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

  1. cow, ox, cattle

Readings

Compounds

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
うし
Grade: 2
kun'yomi

Pronunciation

Noun

(hiragana うし, katakana ウシ, romaji ushi)

  1. cow, bull, ox, cattle
  2. beef
Usage notes

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

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
ぎゅう
Grade: 2
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese (ngjuw, cow).

Pronunciation

Noun

(hiragana ぎゅう, romaji gyū, historical hiragana ぎう)

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

References

  1. 1 2 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9
  2. 1 2 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, ISBN 978-4-14-011112-3

Korean

Hanja

(u)
Eumhun:

  • Sound (hangeul):  (McCune-Reischauer: u, Yale: wu)
  • Name (hangeul): ()
  1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Compounds


Okinawan

Kanji

Noun

(hiragana うし, romaji ushi)

  1. cow, cattle

Compounds


Vietnamese

Han character

(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

(hiragana うち, romaji uchi)

Noun

(hiragana うち, romaji uchi)

  1. cow, cattle