How to Write 犏 (piān) — Meaning “pian (yak-cattle hybrid)”

Imagine a cow (牛) that is "flat" (扁) because it is a cross between a yak and a cow, so it looks squashed or flat compared to a purebred. The word "pian" sounds like "piano," so picture a piano-playing cow that is a hybrid.

Write the left radical 牛 with 4 strokes: left-slash, horizontal, horizontal, vertical. Then write the right side 扁 starting with the top dot and horizontal, then the inside part. A common mistake is making the right side too wide or forgetting the final horizontal stroke at the bottom of 扁. Keep the two sides balanced.

犏 means a yak-cattle hybrid and is pronounced piān. 牾 (wǔ) means to go against or oppose, as in 抵牾 (conflict). 牿 (gù) originally meant a cattle pen or to confine animals. Visually, they share the 牛 radical but have different right-side components: 扁, 吾, and 告 respectively.

犏 is a rare character used mainly in agriculture and zoology to describe the hybrid of a yak and domestic cattle, called 犏牛. This hybrid is valued in Tibet and Qinghai for its strength and adaptability. You will almost never see it in everyday conversation or HSK vocabulary.

Common words containing 犏 include: 犏牛 (piān niú) — pian (yak-cattle hybrid); 犏 (piān) — pian (yak-cattle hybrid).