牢
láo HSK6

prison

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approved by Prismcool · Nov 5, 2023, 07:52 PM · Reviewed by Prismcool on Nov 5, 2023, 07:52 PM

Added etymology

Changed fields: hint, isVerified, components, customSources

Original meaning: pen; fence

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

Components

宀
宀 Iconic component

Originally a pictograph of an animal's pen. Later rewritten into 宀 (roof).

牛
牛 Iconic component

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Shang ~1100 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangruː
Unicodelɑu

說文解字

《說文》：“牢，閑，養牛馬圈也。从牛，冬省，取其四周帀也。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)