老牛舐犢

简 老牛舐犊 · 繁 老牛舐犢
Mandarin · pinyin lǎo niú shì dú

Meanings

  1. lit. an old ox licking its calf (idiom)
  2. fig. (of parents) to dote on one's children
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Characters in this entry

老
lǎo · old, aged; experienced; Kangxi radical 125
牛
niú · cow, ox, bull; Kangxi radical 93; 9th lunar mansion, determinative star β Capricorni (Dabih)
舐
shì · lick with tongue
犢
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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

3–2–4–2 · lao3 niu2 shi4 du2

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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.

老牛舐犢 · find source passages ↗ · 老牛舐犊 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

lou5 ngau4 saai5 duk6

Cantonese word readings for 老牛舐犢. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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

老牛舐犢 · lao3 niu2 shi4 du2
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 88,764
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record老牛舐犢 老牛舐犊 [lao3 niu2 shi4 du2] /lit. an old ox licking its calf (idiom)/fig. (of parents) to dote on one's children/