亡ぼう羊よう

noun

lost sheep

Literary or classical term for a sheep that has gone astray; often used metaphorically for a person who has strayed from the right path. Rare in everyday conversation.

• 「亡ぼう羊ようの嘆たん」という故こ事じ成せい語ごがある。

  There is a classical idiom 'lament over the lost sheep'.

• 彼かれは若わかい頃ころの放ほう蕩とうを振ふり返かえり、亡ぼう羊ようの思おもいに駆かられた。

  Looking back on his youthful dissipation, he was seized by the feeling of a lost sheep.