HSK 6 · Emotions

牢骚 láosāo “complaint” in Chinese

Traditional 牢騷

What 牢骚 means

  1. complaint
  2. grievance
  3. to grumble
  4. discontent
  5. to complain

How to say 牢骚

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale牢láo2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale骚sāo1st tone, high and level

牢骚 in a sentence

  1. 每人心里都有牢骚。

    Měi rén xīnlǐ dōu yǒu láosāo.

    Everyone has something to grumble about.

    Sentence #3106250 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 行动比语言更有说服力。别发牢骚多做事。

    Xíngdòng bǐ yǔyán gèng yǒu shuōfúlì. Bié fā láosāo duō zuòshì.

    Actions speak louder than words. Stop complaining and get on with it.

    Sentence #347709 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 停止发牢骚吧。

    Tíngzhǐ fā láosāo ba.

    Stop grumbling.

    Sentence #5092142 from Tatoeba

How 牢骚 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 牢 (láo) with each of its parts in a different colour
牢láopen; fold
  • 宀roof · mián
  • 牛cow · niú
The character 骚 (sāo) with each of its parts in a different colour
骚sāoto disturb; to disrupt
  • 马horse · mǎ
  • 蚤flea · zǎo

How to write 牢骚

牢 7 strokes · 骚 12 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

牢骚 (láosāo) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 牢骚 (láosāo). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 牢骚

Words with 牢

牢固láogù · firm

Words with 骚

骚扰sāorǎo · to harass

More words: Emotions & Attitudes

快活kuàihuo · happy哭泣kūqì · to weep苦涩kǔsè · bitter狼狈lángbèi · in an awkward situation愣lèng · dazed冷落lěngluò · to snub乐趣lèqù · delight乐意lèyì · willing

FAQs

牢骚 (láosāo) means “complaint” or “grievance”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it láosāo: láo with a 2nd tone, then sāo with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 牢骚 is written 牢騷. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type laosao with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 牢骚 from the suggestions. Typing laosao into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
牢骚 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.