牛

General term for bovine animals, typically appearing in four domains:

• Agricultural: The working animal associated with plowing and field labor.
• Ritual: A sacrificial victim; serves as the prototype for ritual livestock (cf. 牲).
• Economic: A unit of wealth or tangible asset in legal and accounting records.
• Astronomical/Divinatory: The ninth lunar mansion, associated with $\beta$ Capricorni.

Almost exclusively a noun. Frequently appears as an attributive modifier to indicate the instrument of an action (e.g., "ox-plowing").

The glyph does not distinguish between species (domestic ox vs. water buffalo) or sex and age (bull, cow, steer); these distinctions must be derived from context. In ritual texts, specific descriptors regarding the animal's color or size often signal the status of the offering.

Variant U+725C is a graphic variant reflecting calligraphic or regional scribal habits; it carries no distinct semantic shift.

Radical 93; serves as the semantic root for a wide range of bovine-related terms.