Meaning
The kanji 牛 means cow, ox, or bull — bovine animals of any kind. Its roots trace back over three thousand years to oracle bone script used in ancient China. That makes it one of the oldest recognizable characters still in everyday use.
The original pictograph showed a cow's face head-on: two curved horns at the top, a horizontal stroke for the forehead, and a vertical line for the snout and body below. Centuries of stylization compressed that image into the four strokes we write today. Look closely at the top of the character — those spreading strokes are still the horns.
Cattle have shaped Japanese life in concrete ways. Oxen once pulled plows through rice paddies. Today, 和牛 (Wagyu) commands premium prices at restaurants from Tokyo to New York. 牛 turns up on menus, in farm vocabulary, on the side of every milk carton, and in zodiac contexts — the ox is the second animal in the Chinese zodiac, written 丑年 (ushidoshi).
At just 4 strokes, 牛 is among the simplest kanji you will learn. It is taught in Grade 2 of Japanese elementary school and doubles as a standalone radical (部首). It appears inside characters like 物 (thing) and 特 (special), so recognizing it now pays dividends as you encounter more complex kanji later.
Readings
On'yomi (音読み) — Chinese-derived readings
ギュウ (gyuu) is the on'yomi, carried over from the ancient Chinese pronunciation. It appears almost exclusively in compound words (熟語, jukugo), and you will run into it constantly in food and farming contexts.
- 牛肉 (gyuuniku) — beef; the word you see on supermarket labels and restaurant menus every day
- 牛乳 (gyuunyuu) — cow's milk; the standard term printed on every milk carton in Japan
- 牛丼 (gyuudon) — beef rice bowl; a fast-food staple served at chains like Yoshinoya and Sukiya
- 牛舎 (gyuusha) — cattle barn; used in agricultural and farming contexts
Kun'yomi (訓読み) — Native Japanese readings
うし (ushi) is the native Japanese word for a cow or ox. Use it when referring to the animal directly — pointing at one in a field, telling a story about farm life, or using certain set expressions. It also connects phonetically to 丑 (the zodiac ox sign).
- 牛 (ushi) — a cow; used in everyday speech ("あの牛を見て！" — Look at that cow!)
- 丑年 (ushidoshi) — Year of the Ox in the Chinese zodiac; people born in this year are said to be patient and hardworking
- 牛小屋 (ushigoya) — cowshed; a colloquial, rustic term compared to the more formal 牛舎
Common Words & Compounds
牛 shows up across food, farming, anatomy, and idiom. Below are the most useful compounds, grouped by category.
Food & Cuisine
- 牛肉 (gyuuniku) — beef
- 牛乳 (gyuunyuu) — cow's milk
- 牛丼 (gyuudon) — beef rice bowl
- 牛タン (gyuu tan) — beef tongue; a signature grilled dish in Sendai
- 和牛 (wagyuu) — Japanese Wagyu beef; known internationally for its fat marbling and flavor
Farming & Animals
- 牛舎 (gyuusha) — cattle barn
- 乳牛 (nyuugyuu) — dairy cow; a cow kept for milk production
- 闘牛 (tougyuu) — bullfighting; seen in Okinawa's traditional bull-sumo events as well as the Spanish sport
- 子牛 (koushi) — calf; a young cow or bull
Idioms & Set Phrases
- 牛歩 (gyuuho) — a snail's pace; literally "cow's walk," used when something is frustratingly slow
- 牛耳る (gyuujiru) — to run the show, to dominate; from an ancient ritual where the leader grasped the ear of a slaughtered ox to seal an alliance
Example Sentences
スーパーで牛肉を買いました。
Suupaa de gyuuniku wo kaimashita.
I bought beef at the supermarket.
牛乳を毎朝飲んでいます。
Gyuunyuu wo maiasa nonde imasu.
I drink milk every morning.
あの牧場には牛が百頭います。
Ano bokujou ni wa ushi ga hyaku tou imasu.
There are a hundred cows on that farm.
牛丼は日本の定番ファストフードです。
Gyuudon wa Nihon no teiban fasuto fuudo desu.
Beef bowl is a classic Japanese fast food.
和牛は世界中で人気があります。
Wagyuu wa sekaijuu de ninki ga arimasu.
Wagyu beef is popular all over the world.
子牛が草原を走っていました。
Koushi ga sougen wo hashitte imashita.
A calf was running across the meadow.
彼は会社を牛耳っています。
Kare wa kaisha wo gyuujitte imasu.
He runs the company with an iron fist.
交渉は牛歩のように進んでいる。
Koushou wa gyuuho no you ni susunde iru.
The negotiations are crawling along at a cow's pace.
来年は丑年なので、丑年うまれの人は年男になります。
Rainen wa ushidoshi nanode, ushidoshi umare no hito wa toshiotoko ni narimasu.
Next year is the Year of the Ox, so people born in that year will have their zodiac year.
Related Kanji
- 明 — Bright, Clear, Light (Kanji N4)
- 田 — Rice Field (Kanji N4)
- 飯 — Meal, Cooked Rice, Food (Kanji N4)
- 地 — Ground, Earth, Land (Kanji N4)
- 図 — Diagram, Map, Figure (Kanji N4)
- 昼 — Daytime, Noon, Midday (Kanji N4)
Memory Tip
Stand in front of an imaginary cow and look straight at its face. The top two strokes of 牛 are the two horns curving outward. The middle horizontal stroke is the broad, flat forehead. The long vertical stroke running down through the center is the nose and body. Horns, forehead, snout — once you see that face in the character, it sticks. As a bonus: the word ushi shares the same vowels as the English word "moo-sic" — a quirky but surprisingly sticky hook for the kun'yomi.