Sinograph Addenda · Signs

牛ox · niú · ox, cow, cattle

ox

Where it comes from

An ox seen head-on — the classic identification: horns sweeping up, ears standing out, the long muzzle down the middle stroke. The ox was the great sacrificial animal and the plough-engine of the fields; whole categories of doing and having are written with this head on their left side. Taught in the having-and-lacking chapter.

How to remember it

Horns, ears, muzzle: a longhorn’s face looking straight at you.

In the wild