多如牛毛 (duō rú niú máo) — countless; innumerable

Definition

Chengyu literally meaning 'as many as ox hairs' — a vivid, written way to say 'innumerable' or 'extremely numerous'.

idiom

countlessinnumerable

多如牛毛，。
Xiàn zài zhǎo gōng zuò de rén duō rú niú máo, jìng zhēng fēi cháng jī liè.
Nowadays, there are countless people looking for jobs, and the competition is very fierce.
多如牛毛，。
Wǎng luò shàng de xìn xī duō rú niú máo, yào xué huì shāi xuǎn yǒu yòng de.
There is an immense amount of information on the internet; you need to learn to filter out the useful.
多如牛毛，。
Zhè ge chéng shì de xiǎo chī diàn duō rú niú máo, měi jiā dōu yǒu zì jǐ de tè sè.
This city has countless snack shops, each with its own specialty.

Characters in this word

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

多 originally showed two pieces of meat placed together; the repeated meat shape gives the sense of many.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

女口如

Meaning part形符xíngfú

口口kǒumouth

Sound part声符shēngfú

女

Same sound today

如 is built from 口 (mouth) for its meaning and 女 (woman) for its sound.

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.

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

毛 is drawn as a feather or hair, with its strokes tracing the shape of the feather or hair.