嫩草 (nèncǎo): tender grass

Meanings

1 tender grass
2 young grass
3 (figurative slang) a much younger romantic partner

Characters

嫩

Examples

牛在草原上吃嫩草。

Niú zài cǎoyuán shàng chī nèncǎo.

The cattle graze on tender grass on the plains.

老牛吃嫩草这种事很常见。

Lǎo niú chī nèncǎo zhè zhǒng shì hěn chángjiàn.

Old bulls eating tender grass — that kind of thing is pretty common.

Tips

culture

Beyond the literal sense, 嫩草 is famous from the saying 老牛吃嫩草 ("an old bull eats tender grass") — a teasing/judgmental phrase about a much-older person dating a much-younger one. The English equivalent is roughly "robbing the cradle" or "a May-December romance."