Chinese Idiom Explained: 亡羊补牢

"亡羊补牢" (wáng yáng bǔ láo) is a popular Chinese idiom that comes from Strategies of the Warring States (战国策 Zhànguó cè), and can be literally translated as “To mend the fence after the sheep are lost” in English.

In this blog, we want to share with you both the Chinese and the English retelling of the original story behind "亡羊补牢" (wáng yáng bǔ láo), what it means, as well as how to use it in a sentence.

Let’s dive in!

从前有个人，养了几只羊，一天早上他去放羊，发现少了一只。原来羊圈破了个窟窿，夜里狼从窟窿钻进去，把羊叼走了。街坊劝他说赶快把羊圈修一修，堵上那个窟窿吧。他说，羊已经丢了，还修羊圈干什么呢！

Once upon a time, there was a man who had a few sheep. One morning he let the sheep out to graze and realised that one of his sheep was missing. As it turns outs, the sheep pen was slightly broken, leaving a little hole, allowing a wolf to crawl through and take one of the sheep. His neighbours warned him to quickly fix the sheep pen and cover up the hole. But the man replied, “The sheep is already gone, why bother fixing the pen!”

第二天早上，他去放羊，发现羊又少了一只，原来狼又从窟窿钻进去，把羊叼走了。他很后悔不该不接受街坊的劝告，心想现在修还不晚，他赶快堵上了那个窟窿，然后把羊圈修得结结实实的，从此，他的羊再也没丢过。

The next morning, he let the sheep out to graze and realised that another sheep was missing. As it turns out, the wolf had returned to the hole in the fence and took another sheep. He deeply regretted not listening to the advice of his neighbours and decided it’s still not too late to fix the pen. He immediately went to repair the hole in the fence. From that day onwards, he never lost a sheep again.

This idiom tells us that we shouldn't be worried about getting something wrong, we should be concerned about not being able to correct ourselves in time. Once the time’s past, we might not even have the chance to redeem ourselves.

亡 wáng (to die)

羊 yáng (sheep)

补 bǔ (to repair)

牢 láo (sturdy)

例句 (Example Sentences):

谁没有失误，只要之后知道亡羊补牢就为时不晚。
Shéi méiyǒu shīwù, zhǐyào zhīhòu zhīdào wángyángbǔláo jiù wéi shí bù wǎn.
Everyone makes mistakes; as long we know to correct our mistakes, there's always time.

这次是小测验，没考好没关系，知道了自己的不足，亡羊补牢，为时不晚。
Zhè cì shì xiǎo cèyàn, méi kǎo hǎo méiguānxì, zhīdàole zìjǐ de bùzú, wángyángbǔláo, wéi shí bù wǎn.
This is only a small test, it’s okay if you don’t get a good grade. Once you know where to improve, it’s never too late, there's always time.

How would you use the idiom? Do you have an idiom you'd like us to explain?