The word 牧民 is formed by combining the character 牧, meaning "to herd" or "tend livestock", derived from the radical 牛 (cow) and the component 攵 (driving), with the character 民, meaning "people". Together, they literally signify "herding people", but in actual usage, the term refers to a herdsman or pastoralist, where 民 identifies the people who practice animal husbandry.