HSK 3.0 Level 3 · Nature, Animals

牛 niú “cow” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 牛 means

  1. cow
  2. ox
  3. cattle
  4. bull
  5. newton (abbr. for 牛顿)

Measure word 条 tiáo or 头 tóu · 一条牛 yì tiáo niú

How to say 牛

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale牛niú2nd tone, rising

牛 in a sentence

  1. 牛在草地上吃牧草。

    Niú zài cǎodì shàng chī mùcǎo.

    Cows are grazing in the meadow.

    Sentence #471043 from Tatoeba

  2. 照顾好那些牛！

    Zhàogu hǎo nàxiē niú!

    Look after those cows!

    Sentence #6552975 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 没牛奶了。

    Méi niúnǎi le.

    There’s no milk left.

    Sentence #345919 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 牛 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 牛 (niú) drawn as one shape
牛niúox

牛 is a single shape of 4 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

Memory aidDrawn from an ox’s head with its two horns: ox, cow.

How to write 牛

牛 4 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

牛 (niú) stroke order chart: each stroke of the character in the order you write it
Stroke order chart for 牛 (niú). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 牛

Words with 牛

牛奶niúnǎi · milk牛仔裤niúzǎikù · jeans吹牛chuīniú · to boast

More words: Nature, Animals & Weather

太阳tàiyáng · the sun熊猫xióngmāo · panda月亮yuèliang · the moon山shān · mountain风fēng · wind冰bīng · ice河hé · river羊yáng · sheep

FAQs

牛 (niú) means “cow” or “ox”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 3 word.
Say it niú: niú with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 牛 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Use 条 (tiáo) or 头 (tóu). For example, one cow is 一条牛 (yì tiáo niú).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type niu with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 牛 from the suggestions. Typing niu into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
牛 is an HSK 3.0 Level 3 word in the official 2021 syllabus, and it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 4 word list. It is not on the older HSK 2.0 word lists.

Turn words into conversations

A dictionary gives you the words. A native teacher shows you how to use them. Start with a free 30-minute intro call.

Book a free intro call

Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.