双语解汉字: Chinese Characters 20-ox（牛）

The seal form of this character is apictograph of the ox,characterized by two prominent horns.Man’s slave for life,the cow or ox has been exploited to the bone for labour,meat,milk,leather,glue,manure,etc.

甲骨文中的“牛”字，中间一竖表示牛的脸，上面两竖加弯表示牛角，下面两小撇表示牛耳。后来人们将“牛”字头上的一对尖角做了变形，就是现在汉字“牛”的样子了。

Why Use a Poleaxe to Kill a Chicken?

This story is taken from Analects of Confucius.

Yan Yan（言偃），a student of Confucius,was the magistrate of WuCheng（武成）.Once when Confucius went there he heard the strains of zithers and the sound of singing.Deeming it extravagant to enact lavish ceremonies in such a small town,he said with a sardonic smile:“Why use a poleaxe to kill a chicken?” YanYan defended himself,saying that he was doing what his teacher had encouraged him to do,and thereby would govern WuCheng better.Then Confucius recognized the reason in Yan Yan’s words,and said that he had only been joking.

Later,the metaphor “killing a chicken with a poleaxe” began to be used to describe making a fuss over a trifling matter,or wasting one’s talent on a petty endeavor.

（本段英文翻译：周苓仲）

杀鸡焉用牛刀

这个典故出自《论语》。

孔子到了鲁国的一个小城武城，他的学生子游，名叫言偃，当时在武城做县令。孔子听到了弹琴唱歌的声音，他一开始认为，在武成这个小城施行礼乐没有必要，就笑对言偃说：“杀鸡何必要用杀牛的刀呢？”意思是说，治理这样一个小地方，用不着施行礼乐教育。想不到言偃却回答说：“从前我听到老师您说过：‘君子学习了礼乐，就会爱人，小人学习了礼乐，就好使唤了。’我进行礼乐教育正是遵照了老师的教导，这样做有利于治理武成”。孔子听了便说：“言偃是对的，我刚才的话只是开个玩笑罢了。”

后来“杀鸡焉用牛刀”，就用来比喻小题大做或大材小用。

“Analysis of Chinese Characters by bilingual”，is opened for the convenience of Chinese and foreign friends who are interested in Chinese characters. We’ll push a Chinese character every Monday，analyze its originand related culture. If there is any impropriety，welcome to correct us.

为方便对汉字感兴趣的中国朋友和外国朋友，我们开设了《双语解字》栏目。每周一推送一个汉字的来历和相关文化，如果其中有不恰当的地方，欢迎中外朋友指正。