羊倌 (yáng guān) — shepherd (person who herds sheep)

Definition

Literary/rural term for a shepherd, a person who herds sheep. More specific and old-fashioned than 牧羊人, which is the everyday spoken word.

noun

shepherd (person who herds sheep)

Measure word · 个

Easily confused

羊倌。
Nà ge yáng guān měi tiān gǎn zhe yáng qún shàng shān chī cǎo.
That shepherd drives the flock up the mountain to graze every day.
羊倌，。
Lǎo yáng guān chuī zhe kǒu shào, yáng qún jiù gēn zhe tā zǒu.
The old shepherd whistled, and the flock followed him.
羊倌。
Zhè ge gù shi jiǎng de shì yí gè nián qīng yáng guān de mào xiǎn jīng lì.
This story is about a young shepherd's adventures.

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.

倌guānherder

The “羊” is sheep and the “倌” a person who tends them, so the word names a shepherd.

Characters in this word

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

The shape of 羊 comes from a drawing of a ram's head.

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

亻官倌

Meaning part形符xíngfú

亻Written in full as人rénperson

Sound part声符shēngfú

官

Same sound today

In 倌, the left 亻 marks a person, and the right 官 gives the sound.