DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT
牛
Mandarin · pinyin niú#
Meanings · niú
- ox
- cow
- bull
- Classifier: 條 tiáo, 頭 tóu
- newton (abbr. for 牛頓 niú dùn)
- (slang) awesome
Mandarin · pinyin Niú#
Meanings · Niú
- surname Niu
Characters in this entry
- 牛
- niú · cow, ox, bull; Kangxi radical 93; 9th lunar mansion, determinative star β Capricorni (Dabih)
Explore the spelling
Mandarin tones
2 · niu2
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
Connected dictionary
1character link2same-tone records4source references
Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.Read this spelling in Classical texts
Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.
Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 11 senses · 1 Cantonese reading
Rime Cantonese 粵拼
ngau4
Cantonese word readings for 牛. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.
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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section
Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.
character
- 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)
- beef
- Ox (Chinese zodiac sign)
- stubborn; pigheaded
- (colloquial) arrogant
- (Mainland China, Mandarin, slang) awesome; powerful
- (～宿) (Chinese astronomy) Ox (one of Twenty-Eight Mansions)
- (physics) short for 牛頓／牛顿 (niúdùn, “newton”)
- (Hong Kong Cantonese, computing) short for 火牛 (“transformer”) (Classifier: 隻／只 c)
- (Hakka) naughty
- a surname
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
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