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做牛做馬

简做牛做马 · 繁做牛做馬

Mandarin · pinyin zuò niú zuò mǎ

lit. to work like an ox, to work like a horse; fig. to work extremely hard

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Characters in this entry

做: zuò · work, make; act
牛: niú · cow, ox, bull; Kangxi radical 93; 9th lunar mansion, determinative star β Capricorni (Dabih)
馬: Look up this written character
马: mǎ · horse; surname; Kangxi radical 187

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–2–4–3 · zuo4 niu2 zuo4 ma3

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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.

做牛做馬 · find source passages ↗ · 做牛做马 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(idiomatic) to work one's butt off; to work extremely hard
(idiomatic) to lower one's dignity to do everything and anything for someone

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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