牛
nióu · HSK 3
ox
🐂 Pictograph of an ox head — horns on top, body below.
The oracle bone form showed a front-facing ox face with curved horns. Sounds like 'new' with a Y-glide: nióu. Common in 牛奶 (milk) and 牛肉 (beef).
牛 — pictograph of an ox head with horns
牛 is a pictograph that originally depicted the head of an ox or cow, with the top strokes representing the curved horns and the vertical line the face. Early oracle bone forms show the horns clearly. The meaning has remained stable for over three thousand years: cattle, ox, or cow.