亡 wáng
- Strokes
- 3
- Radical
- 亠 — lid, cover
- How it's built
- Ideograph — the meaning is built from its parts
亡羊补牢
wángyángbǔláo
to mend the pen after sheep are lost; to take remedial action after a loss
Characters in this word
羊 yáng
- Strokes
- 6
- Radical
- 羊 — sheep, goat
- How it's built
- Pictograph — a drawing of the thing
补 bǔ
- Strokes
- 7
- Radical
- 衤 — cloth
- Made of
- 衤 cloth 卜 divination, fortune-telling
- How it's built
- Phono-semantic — one part hints at the meaning, another at the sound
牢 láo
- Strokes
- 7
- Radical
- 牛 — ox, cow, bull
- Made of
- 宀 roof 牛 ox, cow, bull
- How it's built
- Ideograph — the meaning is built from its parts
Example phrases
- 这次成绩不好不要紧，亡羊补牢，现在努力还来得及。 Zhè cì chéngjì bù hǎo bú yàojǐn, wángyángbǔláo, xiànzài nǔlì hái láidejí. A poor result this time is no big deal; mend the fold after the sheep are lost — it is not too late to work hard now.
- 发现漏洞后，他连夜修复系统，虽然亡羊补牢，损失小了很多。 Fāxiàn lòudòng hòu, tā liányè xiūfù xìtǒng, suīrán wángyángbǔláo, sǔnshī xiǎo le hěn duō. After finding the flaw, he fixed the system overnight; it was remedial after the fact, but the losses became much smaller.
- 钱包丢了以后她赶紧改了密码，亡羊补牢，还不算太晚。 Qiánbāo diū le yǐhòu tā gǎnjǐn gǎi le mìmǎ, wángyángbǔláo, hái bú suàn tài wǎn. After losing her wallet she changed her passwords right away; it was after the fact, but still not too late.
Related words
- 伤亡 shāngwáng to be injured; casualties
- 死亡 sǐwáng to die
- 灭亡 mièwáng to perish; to collapse; to become extinct
- 逃亡 táowáng to flee; to be on the run
- 羊 yáng sheep
- 补 bǔ to mend; to make up
- 补充 bǔchōng to add; to supplement
- 补偿 bǔcháng compensation
- 补贴 bǔtiē subsidy
- 补课 bǔkè to make up a missed lesson
- 补习 bǔxí to take supplementary lessons
- 弥补 míbǔ to compensate, to make up for