泥牛入海 — Chinese idiom
泥牛入海
ní niú rù hǎi
Meaning
- lit. a clay ox enters the sea ; fig. to disappear with no hope of returning
Character by character
- 泥nímud, earth, clay; plaster, paste
- 牛niúox, cow, bull
- 入rùto enter, to come in; to join
- 海hǎisea, ocean; maritime
Idioms sharing a character
- 判若云泥 pàn ruò yún ní
- 拖泥带水 tuō ní dài shuǐ
- 泥古不化 nì gǔ bù huà
- 泥沙俱下 ní shā jù xià
- 烂醉如泥 làn zuì rú ní
- 雪泥鸿爪 xuě ní hóng zhǎo
- 云泥之别 yún ní zhī bié
- 九牛一毛 jiǔ niú yī máo
- 呼牛作马 hū niú zuò mǎ
- 呼牛呼马 hū niú hū mǎ
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3). Retrieved 2026-10-22.