泥牛入海 — Chinese idiom

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.