Chinese Character Wiki
牢

láo

prison

Original meaning: 

pen; fence

Depicts an animal, such as a cow (牛), trapped around an animal's fence (宀).

Components
宀 iconic component

宀  Iconic component

mián

  

roof

Originally a pictograph of an animal pen. Later reanalyzed as 宀 (roof).

牛 iconic component

牛  Iconic component

niú

  

cow

Evolution

牢 Oracle script (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)
牢 Bronze script Late Shang dynasty (~1100 BC)

Bronze script

Late Shang dynasty (~1100 BC)
牢 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
牢 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
牢 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

牢  

láo

prison; stable, pen; secure; firm; sturdy; fold (for animals); sacrifice

Most common words with 牢
Freq.
Word
Meaning

牢

firm

坐牢

to be imprisoned

牢牢

firmly

牢固

firm

牢房

jail cell

Statistics

HSK level 6

Appears in 27.2305% of movies

1204th most common character in movies

1696th most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

7

Unicode

U+7262

Shuowen

“牢，閑，養牛馬圈也。从牛，冬省，取其四周帀也。”


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