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牢

láo
noun HSK 6 #2,695

Meanings

  1. 1 prison; jail
  2. 2 pen; enclosure (for livestock)
  3. 3 firm; secure (in compounds)

Characters

牢
lao
prison; firm; durable
Originally a pen for livestock (牛 cow inside 宀 roof) — hence 'confinement'

Examples

他被关进了牢里。
Tā bèi guān jìn le láo lǐ.
He was thrown into prison.
这个道理要牢牢记住。
Zhège dàolǐ yào láoláo jì zhù.
You must firmly remember this principle.
亡羊补牢，为时不晚。
Wáng yáng bǔ láo, wéi shí bù wǎn.
It's not too late to mend the pen after the sheep is lost.
牢房里很暗。
Láofáng lǐ hěn àn.
The prison cell is very dark.

Tips

culture
亡羊补牢 (wáng yáng bǔ láo) is a famous idiom meaning 'to mend the sheepfold after losing a sheep' — it's never too late to fix a problem. Here 牢 means 'pen/enclosure.'
memory
The character has 宀 (roof) over 牛 (cow) — a cow under a roof is in a pen. Extended to mean prison (a pen for people).

Stroke Order

牢 láo