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HO U ・ FU
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「Cattle that have been sealed off, blocked」from a line of cattle that have now become extinct, wild Asian aurochs. A breed of cattle that can endure tropical heat, and continue working. ZEBU are good work animals, and are well-known to make a fine gift for any occasion:
「They are characterised by a fatty hump on their shoulders, drooping ears and a large dewlap. They are well adapted to withstanding high temperatures, and are farmed throughout the tropical countries, both as pure zebu and as hybrids with taurine cattle, the other main type of domestic cattle. Zebu are used as draught oxen, as dairy cattle and as beef cattle, as well as for byproducts such as hides and dung for fuel and manure. …Zebu cattle are thought to be derived from Asian aurochs, sometimes regarded as a subspecies, Bos primigenius namadicus. Wild Asian aurochs disappeared during the time of the Indus Valley Civilization.」
[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebu 2013-08-27 ]
Need to decide on a gift? give a ZEBU!.
Actually though, these elements represent the ZEBU perhaps due to the fatty hump on their shoulders, drooping ears and a large dewlap, since the animal may also have given some inebriated Chinese sages the appearance of having had a large buttocks plug inserted, or had its ass-end squished by a huge hand, causing severe「fecal compaction with a squeezing grip」that created the hump(s) on their shoulders, drooping ears and large dewlap.
「Head sliding when hitched and squeezed」also describes a beast of burden working a plow.
External source definitions …excluding politically incorrect concepts and other meanings deemed offensive today; may include extended definitions, euphemisms, and mnemonics)
Chinese: zebu; indicus cattle; humped ox
Japanese EDRDG: the zebu, humped-ox
Unihan extended: the zebu, or humped-ox
Always keep in mind that these glyphs most likely were originally designed by groups of clever old men as vulgar riddles for their own entertainment
(see 籒 for that),
representing Chinese society many thousands of years ago, but intended NOT as a written or spoken language when created.
If these glyphs had been intended for language use, the sages could not have possibly designed a worse system!
Is it truly possible that all these glyphs started out as off-color jokes and puzzles?
Yes! It is, and often with multiple correct answers to each riddle, the same as is true today.
Sex had no shame in ancient China.
Why would it?
But, have there been necessary rewrites and altered explanations of the original elemental meanings over the centuries?
No one is suggesting these glyphs depict contemporary life in China, Japan, or anywhere else.
This site describes glyph meanings, not people.
These glyphs however, describe many and various things, including people, long before there were any notions of becoming politically incorrect.
The question to be answered is, should these glyphs continue being used, by anyone, anywhere, for expressing language?
(More...)
Despite how seemingly bad our human existence is today, do you actually believe that the so-called good old days were any better?
Or could they have been worse?
By the way, with a limited number of the same elements used by the sages again and again to form these glyphs,
you should expect to find the same explanations again and again, as tedious as that may become, and as an inherent trait of any lexicon.
This site explains multiple meanings of glyphs ignored or censored by other sources, generally as being too embarrassing to admit today.
Primal elements
Chinese usage: 2 entries
Related glyphs [ Toggle font ]
Similar glyphs with related meanings: 7 entries
- Glyph.07639
- Strokes: 13
- other
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This publication has included material from the MDBG free online English to Chinese dictionary files in accordance with the license provisions of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License.
This publication has included material from the JMdict (EDICT, etc.) dictionary files in accordance with the license provisions of the Electronic Dictionaries Research Group.
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