种牛 (zhǒng niú) — breeding bull | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

breeding bull

Measure word · 头

Examples

种牛，。
Nóng chǎng lǐ yǒu yì tóu zhǒng niú, yòng lái pèi zhǒng.
There is a breeding bull on the farm, used for mating.
种牛。
Zhè tóu zhǒng niú de pǐn zhǒng hěn hǎo.
This breeding bull has a very good breed.
种牛。
Nóng mín bǎ zhǒng niú yǎng zài dān dú de niú péng lǐ.
The farmer keeps the breeding bull in a separate cowshed.

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.

“种” means breed and “牛” means bull, so a breeding bull.

Characters in this word

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

禾中种

Meaning part形符xíngfú

禾禾hérice

Sound part声符shēngfú

中

中zhōng种zhǒng

Same sound today

种 pairs 禾, which shows rice or grain and fits meanings like plant and seed, with 中, which gives 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.

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