犊 (dú) · calf, young bull

Measure Word

一头犊 tóu

Meanings

1 calf
2 young bull

Characters

犊

dú

calf; young bovine

Examples

HSK 1

初生牛犊不怕虎。

Chūshēng niúdú búpà hǔ.

A newborn calf does not fear a tiger. (The young are fearless.)

HSK 6

母牛正在照顾它的犊。

Mǔniú zhèngzài zhàogù tā de dú.

The cow is taking care of her calf.

Tips

culture

犊 appears in the famous Chinese proverb 初生牛犊不怕虎 (A newborn calf does not fear a tiger), used to describe the boldness and fearlessness of the young. 犊子 is also used as a mild colloquial term (sometimes affectionate, sometimes mildly rude) in some northern dialects.

Components

radical

牛 niú

ox; cattle (left-side compressed form)

Left ox radical in its 4-stroke side-compressed form (the bottom-right tail tucked in to leave room for the phonetic). Originally a head-on cow's head with horns; indexes 犊 in the cattle family (牢 pen, 牲 sacrifice, 犊 calf, 犁 plow) and tells you the word is about bovines specifically.

phonetic

卖 mài

to sell (here phonetic frame)

Right 卖 supplies the phonetic frame: the traditional 犢 had 賣 here, contracted to 卖 in the 1956 reform. The sound is dú (cognate with 读 to read, 续 to continue - the same phonetic series). It is a pure sound contributor; nothing about selling is involved in the meaning of calf.