🐑 亡羊补牢 wáng yáng bǔ láo – Fix the Fence After Losing the Sheep

🔍 What It Means

亡羊补牢 (wáng yáng bǔ láo) literally means “repair the pen after losing sheep.”

Word-for-word:

亡 (wáng) – to lose

羊 (yáng) – sheep

补 (bǔ) – to repair

牢 (láo) – animal pen / enclosure

It means: It’s not too late to fix a problem, even after something goes wrong.

In English, you might say:

🔧 “Better late than never”

🔨 “It’s never too late to patch things up”

🏺 Where It Comes From

This idiom comes from an old fable:

A man had sheep in a pen. One morning, he discovered a sheep was gone — it had escaped through a hole in the fence.

A neighbor said, “You should fix the hole.”

But the man thought, “Too late now, it’s already gone.”

The next day, another sheep was missing.

He finally fixed the fence.

After that, no more sheep were lost.

From then on, people said 亡羊补牢 (wáng yáng bǔ láo) to mean:

“Fixing the pen after losing sheep — it’s not too late.”

💬 How to Use It

Use 亡羊补牢 when someone is correcting a mistake or taking action after a loss — and it’s still helpful.

✅ It’s a positive and encouraging idiom.

🗣 Often used when someone finally takes the right step, even if it’s late.

🎯 Real Examples

1. 他以前从不复习，考了一次很差的成绩后，才开始认真复习，真是亡羊补牢。

Tā yǐqián cóng bù fùxí, kǎo le yícì hěn chà de chéngjì hòu, cái kāishǐ rènzhēn fùxí, zhēn shì wángyángbǔláo.

👉🏼 He never used to review, but after getting a bad grade, he finally started studying seriously — a perfect case of fixing things after a mistake.

2. 他忘记保存文件，电脑突然关机了。后来他设定了自动保存功能，亡羊补牢，避免了更多损失。

Tā wàngjì bǎocún wénjiàn, diànnǎo tūrán guānjī le. Hòulái tā shèdìng le zìdòng bǎocún gōngnéng, wáng yáng bǔ láo, bìmiǎn le gèng duō sǔnshī.

👉🏼 He forgot to save his file, and the computer shut down suddenly. Later, he set up autosave — fixing the problem in time and preventing more loss.

⚠️ Common Mistakes (Watch Out!)

❌ Mistake: Using this idiom only for situations with animals.

✅ Correct: It can be used for any late fix — in work, relationships, learning, or daily life.

💡 Memory Tip

Imagine losing a sheep… then finally fixing the fence.

It doesn’t bring the lost sheep back,

but it protects everything else.

That’s the message: It’s not too late to make things better. 🐏🔧

✍🏻 Interactive Practice

Translate this sentence into English:

出错以后能及时改正，就是亡羊补牢。

Answer:

Being able to correct mistakes in time, even after they happen, is a good example of “better late than never.”

🌟 Final Thoughts

Mistakes happen. Things go wrong. But 亡羊补牢 reminds us:

It’s never too late to do something about it.

So instead of feeling regret —

Take action. Learn. Repair. Protect the future. 🛠️

👉 Stay tuned for the next idiom in this series!