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Translingual [edit]

Stroke order
老-bw.png
Stroke order
老-order.gif

Etymology [edit]

Ideogrammic compound (會意):  (an old man with long hair, bent over) +  (cane) – an old man, leaning on a cane. Compare top component to

Cognate to ; the most commonly cited example of 轉注 (zhuǎn zhù, reciprocal meaning).

老 老 老 老
Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Large seal script Small seal script

Han character [edit]

(radical 125 +0, 6 strokes, cangjie input 十大心 (JKP), four-corner 44711, composition)

  1. old, aged
  2. experienced

References [edit]

  • KangXi: page 960, character 25
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 28842
  • Dae Jaweon: page 1407, character 8
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 4, page 2778, character 1
  • Unihan data for U+8001

Cantonese [edit]

Hanzi [edit]

(Yale lou5)


Hakka [edit]

Hanzi [edit]

(POJ láu, Guangdong lau3; lau3, lo3, lo6, [Hailu], lau3, lo3, lo5 [Siyan], Hagfa Pinyim lau3, lau4)

References [edit]


Japanese [edit]

Kanji [edit]

(grade 4 “Kyōiku” kanji)

  1. old age, an old person, the aged

Readings [edit]

Compounds [edit]


Korean [edit]

Hanja [edit]

(hangeul 로>노, revised ro>no, McCune-Reischauer ro>no, Yale lo>no)


Mandarin [edit]

simpl. and trad.

Pronunciation [edit]

Hanzi [edit]

(pinyin lǎo (lao3), Wade-Giles lao3)

Adjective [edit]

(traditional and simplified, Pinyin lǎo)

  1. old, aged (for persons, animate and inanimate objects generally)
  2. a term of affection preceding a surname
    老张马上来了,我得赶紧收拾一下屋子。
    'Old Zhang is going to be here any minute, I need to hurry up and straighten the room up a bit.
  3. a prefix denoting respect or closeness, used in several fixed terms
    师, 婆,
    teacher, wife ("sweetheart, etc."), husband ("hubby, etc.")
  4. a prefix used in conjunction with the name of several animals considered noxious or unpleasant
    虎,
    tiger, mouse
  5. overcooked, tough, stringy (used in reference to cooked food or meat)
  6. stale, not fresh (used in reference to food or potable liquids)

Compounds [edit]


Middle Chinese [edit]

Han character [edit]

(*lǎu)


Vietnamese [edit]

Han character [edit]

(lão, láu, lảo, lảu, rảu, lẩu, lẽo, lếu)