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

  1. lit. newborn calves do not fear tigers (idiom)
  2. fig. the young are fearless
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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
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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
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1–1–2–2–4–4–3 · chu1 sheng1 niu2 du2 bu4 pa4 hu3

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初生牛犢不怕虎 · chu1 sheng1 niu2 du2 bu4 pa4 hu3
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 13,922
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record初生牛犢不怕虎 初生牛犊不怕虎 [chu1 sheng1 niu2 du2 bu4 pa4 hu3] /lit. newborn calves do not fear tigers (idiom)/fig. the young are fearless/