Definition
牛郎 literally means 'cowherd' or 'cattle boy', but in Chinese culture it almost always refers to the legendary figure from the folk tale '牛郎织女' (The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl). In the story, 牛郎 is a poor cowherd who falls in love with a fairy (织女) and they are separated by the Milky Way, meeting only once a year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. The word can be used literally for a person who herds cattle, but the mythological sense is far more common in modern Chinese.
n.
(legendary figure) the Cowherd from the '牛郎织女' folk tale(literal) cowherdcattle herder
Examples
- ，牛郎。Měi nián Qīxī, Niú láng hé Zhīnǚ huì zài quèqiáo xiānghuì.Every year on Qixi (Chinese Valentine's Day), the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl meet on the Magpie Bridge.
- 牛郎。Zhège gùshi jiǎng de shì Niú láng hé Zhīnǚ de àiqíng.This story is about the love between the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.
- ，牛郎。Zài gǔdài, Niú láng měi tiān dōu yào qù shān shàng fàng niú.In ancient times, the cowherd had to go to the mountains every day to graze cattle.
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