吹牛 (chuī niú) — to brag, to boast | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Casual, colloquial verb for bragging or talking big about oneself. Often negative — use 夸 to give sincere praise, and 吹捧 for insincere flattery.

verb

to bragto boast

Examples

吹牛。
Tā zǒng xǐ huan zài bié rén miàn qián chuī niú.
He always likes to brag in front of others.
，。
Tā chuī le yí xià wǔ de niú, méi rén xiǎng tīng.
He bragged for a whole afternoon, and no one wanted to listen.
吹牛，。
Bié chuī niú le, méi rén xiāng xìn nǐ.
Stop bragging; nobody believes you.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

吹 means blow and 牛 means cow; the image of blowing a cow became bragging.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

口欠吹

口口kǒumouth
欠欠qiànblow

吹 pairs 口 (mouth) with 欠 (blow), giving the picture of air being blown from the mouth.

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

牛 is drawn as a bull's head, with two horns and two ears.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 7-9 HSK 2.0 Level 6 Communication & Speech

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