牛郎织女

牛郎織女

Niúláng Zhīnǚ

proper noun

Meanings

1 the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, Chinese legend of two lovers who may meet only once a year
2 a couple who have to live apart
3 Altair and Vega (stars)

Characters

Examples

HSK 3

他在北京工作，妻子在上海，两个人过着牛郎织女的生活。

Tā zài Běijīng gōngzuò, qīzi zài Shànghǎi, liǎng ge rén guò zhe Niúláng Zhīnǚ de shēnghuó.

He works in Beijing and his wife in Shanghai, so the two of them live apart like the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.

HSK 7-9

牛郎织女的故事在中国家喻户晓。

Niúláng Zhīnǚ de gùshi zài Zhōngguó jiāyù-hùxiǎo.

Everyone in China knows the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.

Tips

culture

One of China's four great folk legends, with 白蛇传, 孟姜女 and the Butterfly Lovers. The heavenly weaver 织女 marries the mortal cowherd 牛郎; the Queen Mother of the West draws the Milky Way between them with her hairpin, and each year on 七夕 magpies form a bridge, 鹊桥, so they can meet. An early poem about them, 迢迢牵牛星, is one of the Nineteen Old Poems of the Han.

Stroke Order

牛 niú

郎 láng

织 zhī

女 nǚ