黄牛 (huángniú): scalper (of tickets, hospital s…

Meanings

1 scalper (of tickets, hospital slots, sneaker drops etc.)
2 ox / yellow cattle (literal)

Characters

黄

Examples

演唱会的票早被黄牛炒到五千了。

Yǎnchànghuì de piào zǎo bèi huángniú chǎo dào wǔqiān le.

Concert tickets have long since been flipped by scalpers to five thousand a piece.

挂号挂不上,只能找黄牛。

Guàhào guà bu shàng, zhǐ néng zhǎo huángniú.

Can't get a hospital appointment — my only option is to go through a scalper.

Tips

culture

Originally 'yellow ox'; the slang sense (scalper) dates back at least to 1930s Shanghai, where crowds of scalpers loitering outside theaters were compared to herds of cattle. Now covers concert tickets, hospital registrations (号贩子), limited sneakers, and iPhone launches.