HSK 7–9 vocabularyHSK 3.0

亡羊补牢

wángyáng-bǔláo

Traditional: 亡羊補牢

lit. to mend the pen after sheep are lost (idiom)

HSK 7–9
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Meaning of 亡羊补牢 in English

wángyáng-bǔláoHSK 7–9Syllabus #9609
  1. lit. to mend the pen after sheep are lost (idiom)
  2. fig. to act belatedly
  3. better late than never
  4. to lock the stable door after the horse has bolted

Example sentences

  1. 亡羊补牢。
    wáng yáng bǔ láo。
    Better late than never.
    Tatoeba #414466 by GlossaMatik · #2344 by CK · CC BY 2.0 FR

Sentence pinyin is generated automatically and may contain errors.

Characters

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HSK words with 亡

伤亡HSK 6死亡HSK 6灭亡HSK 7–9逃亡HSK 7–9
羊 on its own →
yáng · sheep; goat

HSK words with 羊

羊HSK 3
补 on its own →
bǔ · to repair

HSK words with 补

补充HSK 5补HSK 6补偿HSK 6补课HSK 6补贴HSK 6补习HSK 6弥补HSK 6补给HSK 7–9补救HSK 7–9补助HSK 7–9
牢 on its own →
láo · (literary) pen; fold (for livestock)

HSK words with 牢

牢HSK 6牢固HSK 7–9牢记HSK 7–9牢牢HSK 7–9牢骚HSK 7–9

Level, pinyin and part of speech: HSK Syllabus (CLEC, Nov 2025). Definitions: CC-CEDICT, CC BY-SA 4.0. Sources & licences