卤 (lǔ): to stew in soy sauce and spices, alkaline soil, salt

卤 (lǔ) is a Chinese character meaning “to stew in soy sauce and spices.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of ⺊ (structural), 囗 (structural) and 乂 (structural). It ranks #2961 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically pictographic, 卤 a container used to brine pickles. Its radical form 卜 (divination) appears in many related characters such as 占 (zhàn, to observe), 卡 (kǎ, to stop), 卧 (wò, to lie).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to stew in soy sauce and spices
  2. alkaline soil
  3. salt

Etymology & Origin

卤

pictographicA container used to brine pickles

Decomposition: ⿱⺊⿴囗乂 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
卤莽adjectivelǔ mǎngvariant of 魯莽|鲁莽
卤素nounlǔ sùhalogen (chemistry)
卤水nounlǔ shuǐbrine
卤化物nounlǔ huà wùhalide (i.e. fluoride, chloride, bromide etc)
石英卤素灯shí yīng lǔ sù dēngquartz halogen lamp
光卤石nounguāng lǔ shí(mineralogy) carnallite
卤化银nounlǔ huà yínsilver halide (usually chloride) used to fix photos
金卤灯jīn lǔ dēngmetal halide lamp
卤素灯nounlǔ sù dēnghalogen lamp
卤化verblǔ huàto halogenate
卤代烃nounlǔ dài tīnghaloalkane (obtained from hydrocarbon by substituting halogen for hydrogen, e.g. chlorobenzene or the CFCs)
卤质lǔ zhìalkalinity
拟卤素nǐ lǔ sùpseudohalogen, e.g. cyanogen (CN)2
卤属lǔ shǔsee 鹵素|卤素
卤族nounlǔ zúsee 鹵素|卤素
25
Total compounds
68
As first character
12
As last character
20
As middle character

卤 appears in 25 compound words: 68 as the first character, 12 as the last, and 20 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 卤 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

素sù
0.4961,240 co-occurrences
盐yán
0.452218 co-occurrences
化huà
0.4381,892 co-occurrences
汁zhī
0.42982 co-occurrences
鸭yā
0.42952 co-occurrences
浇jiāo
0.42426 co-occurrences
酸suān
0.410260 co-occurrences
吃chī
0.40610 co-occurrences
铜tóng
0.403148 co-occurrences
肉ròu
0.39995 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个卤字在古汉语中有不同的含义。

zhè gě lǔ zì zài gǔ hàn yǔ zhōng yǒu bù tóng de hán yì .

The character "卤" had different meanings in ancient Chinese.

中国新闻网·生活Jul 2026

提醒大家,泡脚可不是“卤爪”,使用不当可能引起皮肤过敏。

tí xǐng dà jiā , pāo jiǎo kě bù shì lǔ zhǎo , shǐ yòng bù dāng kě néng yǐn qǐ pí fū guò mǐn .

Just a reminder: soaking your feet isn’t the same as “braising your feet,” and improper use can cause skin allergies.

中国新闻网·生活Jul 2026

在烹饪过程中,尤其是长时间的炖煮或卤制,皮下脂肪会受热融化。

zài pēng rèn guò chéng zhōng , yóu qí shì cháng shí jiān de dùn zhǔ huò lǔ zhì , pí xià zhī fáng huì shòu rè róng huà .

During cooking, especially when simmering or braising for long periods, the fat under the skin melts when heated.

中国新闻网·生活Jul 2026

用冬瓜和腌苋菜的“臭卤”腌制的臭冬瓜,闻着臭、吃着香,是宁波特有的下饭神器。

yòng dōng guā hé 腌 苋 cài de chòu lǔ 腌 zhì de chòu dōng guā , wén zhe chòu , chī zhe xiāng , shì nìng bō tè yǒu de xià fàn shén qì .

"Stinky winter melon," pickled using the "stinky brine" made from winter melon and pickled amaranth, smells foul but tastes delicious; it's a Ningbo specialty that goes perfectly with rice.

Nownews今日新聞Mar 2026

...险昏倒!1招自救超危急 来台吃爆地瓜球、卤肉饭

. . . xiǎn hūn dǎo ! 1 zhāo zì jiù chāo wēi jí lái tái chī bào dì guā qiú , lǔ ròu fàn

...I almost fainted! One lifesaving tip for emergencies: Indulge in sweet potato balls and braised pork rice while in Taiwan

Hk01.comMar 2026

台湾南北卤肉饭边款易水肿?营养师揭北部卤肉饭吃完体...

tái wān nán běi lǔ ròu fàn biān kuǎn yì shuǐ zhǒng ? yíng yǎng shī jiē běi bù lǔ ròu fàn chī wán tǐ . . .

Is braised pork rice from northern and southern Taiwan more likely to cause water retention? A nutritionist reveals what happens to your body after eating northern-style braised pork rice...

Tatoeba

这锅卤肉还太稀,再煮十分钟收汁一下,味道才会巴在肉上。

Zhè guō lǔròu hái tài xī, zài zhǔ shí fēnzhōng shōu zhī yīxià, wèidao cái huì bā zài ròu shàng.

This braised pork is still too watery. Cook it for another ten minutes to thicken the sauce, so the flavor sticks to the meat.

Character Family

卜 Radical Family — Characters sharing the divination radical

Homophones — Characters pronounced lǔ

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 卤 (lǔ) mean in Chinese?
卤 (lǔ) primarily means "to stew in soy sauce and spices." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2961 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 卤 have?
卤 is written with 7 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 卤?
The radical associated with 卤 is 卜 (divination). This radical appears in many characters related to divination.
What are the components of 卤?
卤 is composed of: ⺊ (structural), 囗 (structural), 乂 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱⺊⿴囗乂 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 卤?
Common words with 卤 include: 卤莽 (lǔ mǎng, "variant of 魯莽|鲁莽"); 卤素 (lǔ sù, "halogen (chemistry)"); 卤水 (lǔ shuǐ, "brine"); 卤化物 (lǔ huà wù, "halide (i.e. fluoride, chloride, bromide etc)"); 石英卤素灯 (shí yīng lǔ sù dēng, "quartz halogen lamp"). There are over 25 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 卤 (lǔ)?
Several characters share the pronunciation lǔ: 路 (road), 录 (to carve wood), 露 (dew, reveal), 陆 (six (banker's anti-fraud numeral)), and 1 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 卤 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 卤 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 卤 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken 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.