蜗牛 (wō niú) — snail | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

snail

Measure word · 只

Examples

蜗牛。
Yǔ hòu huā yuán lǐ yǒu hěn duō wō niú.
There are many snails in the garden after the rain.
蜗牛。
Zhè zhī wō niú pá dé hěn màn.
This snail crawls very slowly.
蜗牛。
Xiǎo péng yǒu zài guān chá yì zhī wō niú.
The child is observing a snail.

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.

蜗牛 pairs 蜗 (snail) with 牛 (cattle), naming the snail by comparing its horns to those of cattle.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 蝸; 蜗 is its simplified writing.

虫咼蝸

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

咼

咼wāi蝸wō

Same sound today

The traditional form 蝸 pairs 虫 with a sound part 咼; the simplified 蜗 is a shorthand and its right side is not the historical sound part.

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.

Appears in

Animals & Mammals

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