In traditional Mandarin Chinese, 牠 (Pinyin: tā 🔊) is a third-person singular pronoun for animals. So it’s a different “it” from 它 “it”.
牠, just like 他 and 她, is a phono-semantic compound, in this case of semantic 牜, a radical form of 牛 “ox”, “cow” etc., and phonetic 也.
牠 is not found in simplified Chinese. Instead, the same 它 is used for all non-human objects, animate or not.
More photos related to animals, hanzi and calligraphy @ Shutterstock.
In Mandarin Chinese, 公 (Pinyin: gōng 🔊) is an extremely common word with many meanings. As an adjective, it can mean “public”, “communal”, “general”, “international”, “fair” and, when applied to animals, “male”:
Could it be that “male” is a “general” kind of animal, as opposed to a female animal which is special?As a noun, 公 can mean “official business”, “authorities” or “duke”. It is also used as a SI prefix kilo- as in 公斤 (gōngjīn) “kilogram” and 公里 (gōnglǐ) “kilometre”. 公公 (gōnggong) means “father-in-law” (more precisely, husband’s father).
There are several theories of this character’s origin. According to Wiktionary,
The traditional interpretation as given by Han Feizi is that 公 is a compound of 八 [= 背 (“to deviate; opposite”)] and 厶 [original form of 私 (“individual; private”)], i.e. the opposite of “individual”; public. This theory is supported by Sun Yirang and Qiang Kaiyun, despite the somewhat different shape of the top component from 厶.
This is disputed in modern times by Gao Hongjin, who thinks that the 八 on top stands for 分 (“to divide; to distribute”) and the bottom round component of 口 symbolises the general object. 公 thus represents “equally dividing resources so that they are communal”.
Another theory put forth by Zhu Fangpu is that 公 is a pictogram, being the original form of 瓮 (“a wide-mouthed round-bottomed jar”), and later borrowed for the meaning of “public”.
More photos of sea glass @ Shutterstock.
In Mandarin Chinese, 丑 (Pinyin: chǒu 🔊) is the second of twelve earthly branches. It corresponds to the Year of the Ox (牛) of the Chinese zodiac; the twelfth month; the hour of the Ox (1 am to 3 am, “the time when Oxen begin to chew the cud slowly and comfortably”); and the direction 30° (where 0° is north). Its associated “fixed element” is Earth, 土.
Note that the character 牛 refers to any actual bovid animal while 丑 refers to the “zodiac ox”.
More photos related to cattle, buffalo, bulls, cows, zodiac and sea glass @ Shutterstock.
In Mandarin Chinese, 牛 (Pinyin: niú 🔊) is a noun that is often translated as “ox” but is a general name for bovine animals (genus Bos, family Bovidae). To be more specific, Chinese uses compounds, for example:
The Ox is one of the twelve-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac and is associated with the earthly branch 丑. 牛 is also the name of a Chinese constellation located near the European constellation of Capricorn.
Many historical forms of this character look like cow’s head complete with horns and ears. I think gnu (another bovid, although not Bos) is a good mnemonic to remember pronunciation of 牛. For more physics-inclined, 牛 is short for 牛顿 / 牛頓 (Niúdùn), “newton” (SI unit of force). 牛肉 (niúròu 🔊) means “beef”.
More photos related to cattle, buffalo, bulls, cows, beef, zodiac and sea glass @ Shutterstock.
