牛犊
niú​dú

calf

牛 niú cow

Pictograph of the head of a cow.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (5 of 28 verified)

物特件牧牲牺犁犀犊犟犄犒牝牦牯犍荦牾犋犏牿犢犪牴犂犎牸犧

Iconic (7)

解半牵牢牟牡牽

Sound (1)

疑

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartngjuw[ŋ]ʷə (< uvular?)ox

說文解字

《說文》：“牛，大牲也，牛件也。件，事理也。象角頭三，封尾之形。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

犊 dú calf Simplified

To sacrifice 卖 a calf 牛

Components

牛
牛 Meaning component
niú cow
卖
卖 Meaning component
mài, mai sell

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode

犢 calf Traditional

To sacrifice 賣 a calf 牛

Components

牛
牛 Meaning component
niú cow
賣
賣 Meaning component
mài, mai sell

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Jin 266-420 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartduwklˤokcalf
Zhengzhangl'oːɡ

說文解字

牛子也。从牛，瀆省聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-SagartZhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)