牢

牢 (Kangxi radical 93, 牛+3, 7 strokes, cangjie input 十竹手 (JHQ), four-corner 3050₂, composition ⿱宀牛)

• 𠈭 哰 𢚄 𫰴 (⿰女牢) 㟉 𤉍 浶 𢭂 𣒲 𭷡 (⿰牜牢) 𣇟 𥒪 𦰤 𥭲 𦕵 䜮 𨦭 𨌚 𪁔 (𩧷) 𤚧 𫳵 (⿰牢何) 𬁖 (⿰星牢) 𣋀 𡫡

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 698, character 1
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 19934
• Dae Jaweon: page 1110, character 2
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 3, page 1802, character 6
• Unihan data for U+7262

• Unihan data for U+F946

Historical forms of the character 牢
Shang	Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : 宀 (“pen; animal yard”) + 牛 (“cow”)

牢

1. pen; enclosure

   亡羊補牢，猶未遲也。 [MSC, trad.]
   亡羊补牢，犹未迟也。 [MSC, simp.]

   Wáng yáng bǔ láo, yóu wèi chí yě.

   Repairing a sheep pen only after a sheep is lost is not considered tardy.

2. prison; jail

   監牢／监牢  ―  jiānláo  ―  prison

3. firm; fast; durable

   牢固  ―  láogù  ―  firm; durable

4. dependable; reliable
5. animal used for sacrificing

   太牢  ―  tàiláo  ―  animal used for sacrificing

6. with grievance and toil

   牢騷／牢骚  ―  láosāo  ―  to be discontented

7. (Shanghainese) indicates continuous aspect

   抱牢勿放 [Shanghainese]  ―  ⁶bau-lau ⁸veq-faon [Wugniu]  ―  holding on, not letting go

   伊吃牢我。 [Shanghainese, trad. and simp.]

   ⁶yi ⁷chiq-lau ⁶ngu [Wugniu]

   He’s staring at me.

8. a surname: Lao

• (pen): 圈 (juàn)
• (prison):

• (firm):

• (dependable):

• (indicates continuous aspect): (Mandarin, Jin) 著／着 (zhe)

• → Manchu: ᠯᠣᠣ (loo)
  • → Solon: lō
• → Zhuang: lauz
• → Vietnamese: rào

• 籠

(uncommon “Hyōgai” kanji)

1. prison
2. stable, pen
3. secure

• Go-on: ろう (rō)^{←らう (rau, historical)}
• Kan-on: ろう (rō)^{←らう (rau, historical)}
• Kun: ひとや (hitoya, 牢); かたい (katai, 牢い)

From Middle Chinese 牢 (MC law).

• (Tokyo) ろ​ー (Atamadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

牢(ろう) • (rō) ^{←らう (rau)?}

1. prison

   Synonyms: 監獄 (kangoku), 牢屋 (rōya), 牢獄 (rōgoku)

牢 • (roe, noe, ro, no) (hangeul 뢰, 뇌, 로, 노, revised roe, noe, ro, no, McCune–Reischauer roe, noe, ro, no, Yale loy, noy, lo, no)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

(uncommon “Hyōgai” kanji)

• 牢(るー)屋(や) (rūya, “prison”)

牢(るー) (rū) 

1. prison

   Synonyms: 監獄 (かんぐく, kanguku), 牢屋 (るーや, rūya)

• National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics (2001 ) 沖縄語辞典 (Okinawa-go Jiten) [Dictionary of the Okinawan Language] (in Japanese), Tokyo (東京): Zaimushō Insatsu Kyoku (財務省印刷局)

牢: Hán Nôm readings: lao, lào, sao, sau

1. chữ Hán form of lao (“prison”).
2. Nôm form of lao (“javelin, harpoon”).
3. Nôm form of Lào (“Laos”).
4. Nôm form of rao (“to announce”).
5. Nôm form of sao (“why, how”).
6. Nôm form of sao (“star”).
7. Nôm form of sau (“after”).
8. Nôm form of trau (“to polish”).