牛仔 (niú zǎi) — cowboy; calf | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

cowboycalf

Measure word · 个

Examples

牛仔。
Tā mèng xiǎng dāng yì míng niú zǎi.
He dreams of becoming a cowboy.
。
Mù chǎng yǒu yì zhī gāng chū shēng de xiǎo niú zǎi.
There is a newborn calf on the ranch.
牛仔。
Tā xǐ huan kàn měi guó niú zǎi diàn yǐng.
He likes to watch American cowboy movies.

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.

牛 names cattle, and 仔 suggests a young one or boy.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

人人rénperson

Sound part声符shēngfú

子

子zǐ仔zǎi

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

仔 puts 人 (person) next to 子, which gives the sound.

Appears in

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