175) 牛

niu

cow

Symbolizes a cow with horns looked at from the front.

175a) 件 / 物件

jian / wujian

175yx) 寺

si

175y-42b*) 特

te

special

cow 牛¹⁷⁵[niú] + temple 寺 [sì]

Buddhists do not kill animals or eat meat. When a bull (牛) is offered to a Buddhist temple (寺), it is considered as a special offering.

175zx) 勿

wu

175z-49b*) 物

wu

matter, object, thing

cow 牛¹⁷⁵[niú] + kill with knife/do not 勿 [wù]

a cattle (牛) is a valuable possession. When one was slaughtered (勿), the family could gain meat and leather, and purchase other things they needed

175bx) 八

ba

eight

divide

175b) 半

ban

half

divide/eight 八²²⁹[bā] + cow 牛 [niú]

Signifies a cow (牛) which is being butchered and cut in half (八).

175cx) 刀

dao

175cxx) 角

jiao

175c) 解

jie

solve, understand;

separate

horn 角 [jiǎo] + knife 刀¹¹⁹[dāo] + cow 牛 [niú]

a cow (牛) is butchered by a knife (刀) and came into completely separate parts such as the meat, bones and even its horns (角). Also came to mean ‘understand’ by understanding everything by dividing them into such smaller parts.

175d) 告

gao

tell, inform

cow 牛 [niú] + mouth 口¹⁶[kǒu]

Two theories exist for this: ① a signpost (⺧) is put up to warn people of dangerous traps (口), or ② a cow (牛) crying (口) to signal and tell the owners that it’s hungry.

176) 马

ma

176a) 吗

ma

auxiliary verb

mouth 口¹⁶[kǒu] + horse 马 [mǎ]

Used as a postpositional particle to form a question, in a sense that a high tone (马) is formed when speaking (口) a question. Try to imagine a high-pitched sound of a horse as the question (马) mark.

176b) 妈 / 妈妈

ma / mama

mother (informal)

woman 女⁹⁶[nǚ] + horse 马 [mǎ]

Meaning of mother is formed by combining woman (女) with “马” as pronunciation guide.

176yx) 加

jia

176y-159h*) 驾

jia

drive

add 加 [jiā] + horse 马¹⁷⁶[mǎ]

A horse (马) is ready to be ridden when its saddles are properly put on (加) – now also became meaning of to drive

176zx) 奇

qi

odd, strange

176z-18a*) 骑

qi

ride

horse 马¹⁷⁶[mǎ] + strange 奇 [qí]

Depicts a man who rides a horse (马) to travel and see strange (奇) things he cannot see in his hometown.

176wx) 佥

qian

all, unanimous

176w) 验

yan

test

horse 马¹⁷⁶[mǎ] + all 佥 [qiān]

All (佥) the people are testing the horses (马) by making them run and jump.