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牢

Mandarin · pinyin láo

(literary) pen; fold (for livestock)
prison; jail
firm; secure; fast

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牢: láo · prison; stable, pen; secure

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

2 · lao2

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1character link17same-tone records

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

lou4

Cantonese word readings for 牢. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

character

pen; enclosure
prison; jail
firm; fast; durable
dependable; reliable
animal used for sacrificing
with grievance and toil
(Northern Wu, Penang Hokkien) indicates continuous aspect
a surname, Lao
(slang, euphemistic, Internet slang) alternative form of 老 (lǎo, “Used by analogy in several other relationship terms.”)

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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