牛群 (niú qún) — herd of cattle | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

herd of cattle

Measure word · 群

Examples

牛群。
Cǎo yuán shàng de niú qún zhèng zài chī cǎo.
The herd of cattle on the grassland is grazing.
牛群。
Mù mín men gǎn zhe niú qún qù xīn de mù chǎng.
The herders drive the herd of cattle to a new pasture.
牛群。
niú qún Zài hé biān hē shuǐ.
The herd of cattle is drinking water by the river.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

Cattle and group combine to mean a herd of cattle.

Characters in this word

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.

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

君羊群

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

君

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

群 pairs 羊, a sheep, to point to a herd or group, with 君 giving the sound.

Appears in

Animals & Mammals

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.