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牛油 (niú yóu) — butter; beef fat, tallow

Definition

In modern usage 牛油 almost always means 'butter' (the dairy product spread on bread or used in baking). The literal sense 'beef fat / tallow' exists but is rare in everyday speech.

noun
butterbeef fattallow
Measure word · 块

Examples

  • 牛油。
    Wǒ zài miàn bāo shàng tú le yì diǎn niú yóu.
    I spread a little butter on the bread.
  • 牛油。
    Zhè zhǒng dàn gāo xū yào jiā hěn duō niú yóu.
    This kind of cake needs a lot of butter.
  • 牛油。
    Yòng niú yóu jiān jī dàn wèi dào tè bié xiāng.
    Frying eggs with butter makes them especially fragrant.

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niúcow
油yóufat

牛 means cow and 油 means fat or oil, so the word is cow fat or butter.

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.

Open 牛 →

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
氵Written in full as水shuǐwater
Sound part声符shēngfú
由
由yóu油yóu
Same sound today

油 is built from 氵, a water part, and 由, which supplies the sound.

Open 油 →
Appears in
Food (General)

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