驴 (lǘ): donkey; ass

Measure Word

一头驴 tóu

Meanings

1 donkey; ass

Characters

驴

lǘ

donkey

Examples

农民用驴来拉车。

Nóngmín yòng lǘ lái lā chē.

Farmers use donkeys to pull carts.

他倔得像一头驴。

Tā jué de xiàng yītóu lǘ.

He is as stubborn as a donkey.

驴肉火烧是河北的特色小吃。

Lǘròuhuǒshāo shì Héběi de tèsè xiǎochī.

Donkey meat sandwich is a specialty snack from Hebei.

Tips

culture

驴肉火烧 (lǘròu huǒshāo, donkey meat sandwich) from Baoding, Hebei is a famous Chinese snack. There's a saying: 天上龙肉，地上驴肉 (dragon meat in heaven, donkey meat on earth) — meaning donkey meat is the best on earth.

Components

radical

马 mǎ

horse

Horse radical on the left — the indexing radical and the equine family marker. A donkey is the long-eared cousin of a horse, so the radical does direct semantic work. Same family of hoofed-animal chars: 骡 (mule), 驹 (foal), 骏 (fine horse), 骑 (ride). The simplified 马 sketches the mane and four legs.

phonetic

户 hù

door; household (here phonetic substitute)

Right side 户 is the simplified replacement: the traditional 驢 had a long 盧 phonetic (lú) on the right, and the 1956 reform reduced it to 户 — both unrelated to the donkey and only loosely matching the sound (lǘ). 户 contributes nothing semantic here; it is purely a stroke-saving substitute.