Chinese word dictionary

亡羊补牢

wángyáng-bǔláo · lit. to mend the pen after sheep are lost (idiom); fig. to act belatedly; better late than never; to lock the stable door after the horse has bolted

Practice word

Word information

Simplified亡羊补牢

Traditional亡羊補牢

Pinyinwángyáng-bǔláo

Part of speechGeneral

HSK 3.07-9

HSK 2.0Not listed

Character breakdown

Study each Hanzi separately, then return to the complete word so pronunciation, meaning, and movement stay connected.

亡wáng

death, destruction; to lose; to perish

羊yáng

sheep, goat

补bǔ

to fix, to mend, to patch, to restore

牢láo

pen, prison, stable; fast, firm, secure

How to learn 亡羊补牢

Listen once without reading, repeat the pinyin with its tones, then write every character in sequence. Finally, recall the complete meaning instead of memorizing each character as an isolated translation.

When the word appears in a sentence, check whether its part of speech and meaning match the definition shown here. Chinese words can change nuance with context.

Related vocabulary

Words with the same characters

Compare how a familiar Hanzi changes meaning inside another word.

羊yáng

sheep; goat; CL:頭|头[tou2],隻|只[zhi1]; surname Yang

补充bǔchōng

to replenish; to supplement; to complement; additional; supplementary; CL:個|个[ge4]

补bǔ

to repair; to patch; to mend; to make up for; to fill (a vacancy); to supplement

补偿bǔcháng

to compensate; to make up

补课bǔkè

to make up missed lesson; to reschedule a class

补贴bǔtiē

to subsidize; subsidy; allowance; to supplement (one's salary etc); benefit