虜 meaning and stroke order
Prisoner; to capture, to imprison, to sieze
How to write 虜, stroke by stroke
13 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
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Meaning of 虜
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- prisoner of war
- to capture
- to take prisoner
- (old) northern barbarian
- slave
How 虜 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Strength.
男 gives the meaning and 虍 hints at the sound.
Radical: 虍 (tiger), shared by 13 characters on this site.
How to remember 虜
A tiger head 虍 looms over a man 男, pinning him down. The tiger part also hints at the sound lǔ, and the man with strength 力 in his field 田 is the one who gets captured.
虜 is the traditional form, and today it appears mostly in compound words like 俘虜 (fúlǔ, prisoner of war; to capture) rather than on its own. Example: 他在戰爭中被俘虜了。(Tā zài zhànzhēng zhōng bèi fúlǔ le.) He was taken prisoner in the war.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 虜 (lǔ) with 慮 (lǜ, to consider), which has 思 under the tiger top instead of 男. The tones differ too: 虜 is third tone, 慮 is fourth tone.
Common words with 虜
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 俘虜 | fúlǔ | to take prisoner; a captive (usu. a prisoner of war) | HSK 7-9 |
Questions about 虜
How many strokes are in 虜?
虜 is written with 13 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 虜 mean?
虜 (lǔ) means prisoner; to capture, to imprison, to sieze. A common word with it is 俘虏 (fúlǔ), meaning "to take prisoner; a captive (usu. a prisoner of war)".
How do you pronounce 虜?
虜 is pronounced lǔ, in the third tone (dipping).
What is the radical of 虜?
The radical of 虜 is 虍, which carries the idea of "tiger". Dictionaries list 虜 under this radical.
What is the simplified form of 虜?
虜 is a traditional character. Its simplified form is 虏, used in mainland China and Singapore.
What does 俘虜 mean in a romantic or figurative sense?
In casual speech, 俘虜 can mean someone who is completely won over, for example 他成了她的俘虜 (tā chéng le tā de fúlǔ), he fell totally under her spell. It works much like the English phrase about capturing someone's heart.
Why does 虜 sometimes mean barbarian in old texts?
In classical Chinese, 虜 was used as an insulting term for northern peoples who were enemies of the Chinese states. You will meet this sense in historical writing, but it is not used this way in modern Chinese.