老牛吃嫩草

lǎo​niú​chī​nèn​cǎo

May-December relationship

Literally "an old cow eats young grass"; used as a metaphor for a relationship between an older man and a significantly younger woman.

老 (literal) → 老 · lǎo · old 牛 (literal) → 牛 · niú · ox 吃 (literal) → 吃 · chī · to eat 嫩 (literal) → 嫩 · nèn · tender 草 (literal) → 草 · cǎo · grass

Changed: simplified, traditional, gloss, definition, pinyin, variant pinyin, variants, separable parts, decomposition

created sense May 20, 2026, 07:58 PM