(lòu): to leak, to divulge, to leave out by mistake

(lòu) is a Chinese character meaning “to leak.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #2020 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, water 氵 falling like raindrops 雨; 屚 provides the pronunciation. Its radical form (water) appears in many related characters such as (shuǐ, water), (hàn, Han ethnic group), (, steam).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to leak
  2. to divulge
  3. to leave out by mistake

Etymology & Origin

ideographicWater 氵 falling like raindrops 雨; 屚 provides the pronunciation

Decomposition: ⿰氵屚 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

Practice writing with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
nounlòu dòngleak6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
xiè lòu(of a liquid or gas) to leak
lòu diàoto miss
yí lòuto overlook
lòu shuǐ(of pipes, ceilings, roofs etc) to leak water
zǒu lòuto leak (information, secrets etc)
tòu lòuto divulge
lòu dǒufunnel
pī lòucareless mistake
lòu qìto leak air or gas
shèn lòuseepage
lòu dòng bǎi chū(of an argument, theory etc) full of flaws (idiom)
lòu shuìtax evasion
shū lòuto slip up
lòu diànto leak electricity
lòu sháoperforated spoon
63
Total compounds
35
As first character
44
As last character
21
As middle character

appears in 63 compound words: 35 as the first character, 44 as the last, and 21 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

xiè
0.68511,124 co-occurrences
dòng
0.66629,392 co-occurrences
shèn
0.5351,542 co-occurrences
dǒu
0.4665,730 co-occurrences
0.433894 co-occurrences
yóu
0.4314,776 co-occurrences
tòu
0.4204,398 co-occurrences
shū
0.4131,788 co-occurrences
shuì
0.3941,170 co-occurrences
0.391546 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (12)

dīshuǐbùlòuHSK 6+

completely rigorous; watertight; very tight

phrase
diǎn shuǐ bù lòuHSK 5+

not one drop of water leaks (idiom); fig. thoughtful and completely rigorous; watertight

phrase
guàyīlòuwànHSK 5+

to be inexhaustive; to leave many important items out

phrase
lòudòngbǎichūHSK 5+

to be replete with flaws

phrase
lòu wǎng yóu yúHSK 5+

see 漏網之魚|漏网之鱼[lou4 wang3 zhi1 yu2]

phrase
lòuwǎngzhīyúHSK 5+

people that are able to escape legal sanctions by luck

phrase
lòu xiè tiān jīHSK 7+

to divulge the will of heaven (idiom); to leak a secret; to let the cat out of the bag

phrase
shū ér bù lòuHSK 7+

loose, but allows no escape (idiom, from Laozi 老子[Lao3 zi3]); the way of Heaven is fair, but the guilty will not escape

phrase
xiè lòu tiān jīHSK 7+

to divulge the will of heaven (idiom); to leak a secret; to let the cat out of the bag

phrase
zhōng míng lòu jìnHSK 7+

past one's prime; in one's declining years

phrase
zǒu lòu xiāo xiHSK 5+

to divulge secrets

phrase

Showing 11 of 12 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

屋顶水了,需要找人来修理。

Wūdǐng lòu shuǐ le, xūyào zhǎo rén lái xiūlǐ.

The roof is leaking; we need to find someone to repair it.

99 健康网Feb 2026

避孕药多久吃有效?短效药服12小时内补上还安全吗

bì yùn yào duō jiǔ chī yǒu xiào ? duǎn xiào yào lòu fú 1 2 xiǎo shí nèi bǔ shàng hái ān quán ma

How long does it take to take birth control pills to be effective? Is it safe to make up for short-acting medicine within 12 hours of missed dose?

99 健康网Feb 2026

男生小便后甩一甩是社交礼仪吗?避免滴体现个人卫生吗

nán shēng xiǎo biàn hòu shuǎi yī shuǎi shì shè jiāo lǐ yí ma ? bì miǎn dī lòu tǐ xiàn gè rén wèi shēng ma

Is shaking after urination considered social etiquette for men? Does preventing dripping reflect personal hygiene?

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

工地傳監測數據 北市推雙軌監管

gōng dì lòu 傳 監 測 數 據 běi shì tuī 雙 軌 監 guǎn

Construction site leakage monitoring data North City promotes dual-track supervision

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

觀察站/一紙特赦 補不了長照

觀 chá zhàn yī 紙 tè 赦 補 bù le 長 zhào lòu dòng

Observation Post: A Single Pardon Cannot Plug Long-Term Care Gaps

東方日報Feb 2026

900克黃金遺列車 女乘客失而復得

kè 黃 jīn 遺 lòu liè 車 nǚ chéng kè shī ér 復 dé

900 grams of gold left behind on a train, recovered by a female passenger.

Tatoeba

这秘密是怎么泄出去的?

Zhè mìmì shì zěnme xièlòu chūqù de?

How did the secret get out?

Tatoeba

我们看了这件重要的事。

Wǒmen kàn lòu le zhè jiàn zhòngyào de shì.

We have overlooked this important fact.

Tatoeba

我得推我的自行车,因为有个轮胎气了。

Wǒ de tuī wǒ de zìxíngchē, yīnwèi yǒu gè lúntāi lòuqì le.

I had to push my bicycle because I had a flat tire.

Tatoeba

学生们把老师说的话一字不地记了下来。

Xuésheng men bǎ lǎoshī shuō dehuà yīzìbùlòu de jì le xiàlai.

The students noted down every word the teacher said.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced lòu

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 漏 (lòu) mean in Chinese?
漏 (lòu) primarily means "to leak." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #2020 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 漏 have?
漏 is written with 14 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 漏?
The radical associated with 漏 is 氵 (water). This radical appears in many characters related to water.
What are the components of 漏?
漏 is composed of: 氵 (structural), 屚 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰氵屚 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 漏?
Common words with 漏 include: 泄漏 (xiè lòu, "(of a liquid or gas) to leak"); 漏洞 (lòu dòng, "leak"); 漏掉 (lòu diào, "to miss"); 遗漏 (yí lòu, "to overlook"); 漏水 (lòu shuǐ, "(of pipes, ceilings, roofs etc) to leak water"). There are over 63 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 漏 (lòu)?
Several characters share the pronunciation lòu: 楼 (building, floor), 搂 (to draw towards oneself), 陋 (low). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 漏 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 漏 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.