DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT
初生牛犢不怕虎
简 初生牛犊不怕虎 · 繁 初生牛犢不怕虎Mandarin · pinyin chū shēng niú dú bù pà hǔ
Meanings
- lit. newborn calves do not fear tigers (idiom)
- fig. the young are fearless
Characters in this entry
- 初
- chū · beginning, initial, primary
- 生
- shēng · life, living, lifetime; birth
- 牛
- niú · cow, ox, bull; Kangxi radical 93; 9th lunar mansion, determinative star β Capricorni (Dabih)
- 犢
- Look up this written character
- 不
- bù · no, not; un-; negative prefix
- 怕
- pà · to fear, be afraid of; apprehensive
- 虎
- hǔ · tiger; brave, fierce; surname
- 犊
- dú · calf; victim of sacrifice
Explore the spelling
Mandarin tones
1–1–2–2–4–4–3 · chu1 sheng1 niu2 du2 bu4 pa4 hu3
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
Connected dictionary
7character links
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.
初生牛犢不怕虎 · find source passages ↗ · 初生牛犊不怕虎 · find source passages ↗