牛皮 (niú pí) — ox hide, leather; (colloquial) bragging, boasti… | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Two unrelated senses: literal 'ox hide / leather' (as in 牛皮包), and the colloquial sense 吹牛皮 meaning 'to brag'.

noun

ox hideleather(colloquial) braggingboasting

Measure word · 张

Examples

牛皮。
Zhè ge niú pí bāo zhì liàng hěn hǎo.
This leather bag is of good quality.
，。
Tā zǒng ài chuī niú pí, bié xìn tā de huà.
He always likes to brag — don't believe him.
牛皮。
Tā mǎi le yì shuāng niú pí xié.
She bought a pair of leather shoes.

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 “ox” and 皮 “skin” form “ox hide,” also used for bragging.

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.

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

皮 shows a hand pulling fur off an animal pelt, with the pelt drawn at the upper left.

Appears in

Materials & Substances

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