牛郎

Mandarin · pinyin niú láng#

Meanings · niú láng

  1. cowherd boy
  2. (slang) male prostitute
Mandarin · pinyin Niú láng#

Meanings · Niú láng

  1. Cowherd of the folk tale Cowherd and Weaving maid 牛郎織女
  2. Altair (star)
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Characters in this entry

牛
niú · cow, ox, bull; Kangxi radical 93; 9th lunar mansion, determinative star β Capricorni (Dabih)
郎
láng · gentleman, young man; husband
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

2–2 · niu2 lang2

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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.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 3 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

ngau4 long4

Cantonese word readings for 牛郎. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

name · Etymology 1

  1. Niu Lang, the lowly cowherd in Chinese mythology; see The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl
  2. (abbreviation, alt-of) short for 牛郎星 (Niúlángxīng)

noun · Etymology 2

  1. (chiefly Taiwan, slang) male prostitute; host (Classifier: 個/个 m)

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

牛郎 · niu2 lang2 · Niu2 lang2
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source lines 71,708, 71,707
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source records牛郎 牛郎 [niu2 lang2] /cowherd boy/(slang) male prostitute/牛郎 牛郎 [Niu2 lang2] /Cowherd of the folk tale Cowherd and Weaving maid 牛郎織女|牛郎织女/Altair (star)/