King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Chinese symbol for “drudge”

牛马
niú mǎ
Traditional: 牛馬
oxen and horses; beasts of burden; (fig.) drudge; laborer

The closest CC-CEDICT match for drudge is 牛马 (niú mǎ), defined as: oxen and horses; beasts of burden; (fig.) drudge; laborer.

Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.

Characters and stroke order

牛 niú
ox, cow, bull
radical 93 ⽜ · 4 strokes
马 mǎ
horse; surname
radical 187 ⾺ · 3 strokes

Traditional forms

Related words

Other words that share a character with 牛马.

WordPinyinMeaning
牛奶niú nǎicow's milk; measure word: 瓶 (píng), 杯 (bēi)
牛肉niú ròubeef
牛顿 (牛頓)niú dùnnewton (SI unit of force)
牛仔裤 (牛仔褲)niú zǎi kùjeans; 条 (tiáo)
牛仔niú zǎicowboy
公牛gōng niúbull
马上 (馬上)mǎ shàngat once; right away
马克 (馬克)mǎ kèmark (monetary unit)

See also: Japanese symbol for “drudge”.

Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.

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