老

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See also: 耂

Translingual[edit]

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

Etymology[edit]

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

Cognate to 考; 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]

Commons-logo.svg
See images of
Radical 125 老

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

  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

Chinese[edit]

-
simp. and trad.
 老

Pronunciation[edit]

Middle Chinese pronunciation (老, reconstructed)
Character (老), Pronunciation 1/1

Initial: 來 (37)
Final: 豪
Division: I

Openness: Open
Tone: Rising (X)

 Fanqie: 盧晧切
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 Bernard
Karlgren		 Li
Rong		 Pan
Wuyun		 Edwin
Pulleyblank		 Wang
Li		 Shao
Rongfen
/lɑuX/ /lɑuX/ /lɑuX/ /lɑuX/ /lawX/ /lɑuX/ /lɑuX/
Old Chinese pronunciation (老, reconstructed)
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character Modern Beijing
(Pinyin)		 Middle Chinese Old Chinese English
老 lǎo ‹ lawX › /*C.rˤuʔ/ old

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter-Sagart system:

  • Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
  • Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
  • Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
  • Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;
  • Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character No. Phonetic
component		 Rime
group		 Rime
subdivision		 Corresponding
MC rime		 Old Chinese Notes
老 7666 老 幽 1 老 /*ruːʔ/

Noun[edit]

老

  1. (classical) the elderly, one's elders
    老吾老，以及人之老。 [MSC, trad. and simp.]
    Lǎo wú lǎo, yǐjí rén zhī lǎo. [Pinyin]
    Respect my elders, and then others' elders.

Verb[edit]

老

  1. (classical) respect [the elderly, one's elders]
    老吾老，以及人之老。 [MSC, trad. and simp.]
    Lǎo wú lǎo, yǐjí rén zhī lǎo. [Pinyin]
    Respect my elders, and then others' elders.

Adjective[edit]

老

  1. old, aged (for persons, animate and inanimate objects generally)
  2. experienced
  3. overcooked, tough, stringy, hard (used in reference to cooked food or meat)
    牛排太老了，我咬不動它。 [MSC, trad.]
    牛排太老了，我咬不动它。 [MSC, simp.]
    Niúpái tài lǎo le, wǒ yǎo bù dòng tā. [Pinyin]
    The steak was so tough I couldn't eat it.
    這雞蛋煮老了，你没掌握好火候。 [MSC, trad.]
    这鸡蛋煮老了，你没掌握好火候。 [MSC, simp.]
    Zhè jīdàn zhǔ lǎo le, nǐ mò zhǎngwò hǎo huǒhòu. [Pinyin]
    This egg is hard, you didn't time it properly.
  4. stale, not fresh (used in reference to food or potable liquids)
  5. always, all the time
    你别老這樣！ [MSC, trad. and simp.]
    Nǐ bié lǎo zhèyàng! [Pinyin]
    Stop being always like this!

Prefix[edit]

老

  1. (affectionate, respectful) Used before surnames (姓) to refer to heads or elder members of families (compare 小 for younger people).
    老張馬上来了，我得趕緊收拾一下屋子。 [MSC, trad.]
    老张马上来了，我得赶紧收拾一下屋子。 [MSC, simp.]
    Lǎo zhāng mǎshàng lái le, wǒ dé gǎnjǐn shōushí yī xià wū zǐ. [Pinyin]
    Old Zhang is going to be here any minute. I need to hurry up and straighten the room up a bit.
  2. (usually respectful and affectionate) Used by analogy in several other relationship terms
    老師 / 老师  ―  lǎoshī  ―  teacher
    老婆  ―  lǎopó  ―  wifey
    老公  ―  lǎogōng  ―  hubby
  3. (zoology) Used before several animals considered noxious or unpleasant
    老虎  ―  lǎohǔ  ―  tiger
    老鼠  ―  lǎoshǔ  ―  mouse
  4. (colloquial) Used before placenames, particularly countries, to form nouns
    老外  ―  lǎowài  ―  (pejorative) foreigner, furriner, whitey
    老美  ―  lǎoměi  ―  (pejorative) American person, Yank
    老毛子  ―  lǎomáozǐ  ―  (pejorative) Russian person

Compounds[edit]

Japanese[edit]

Kanji[edit]

See also:
老

(grade 4 “Kyōiku” kanji)

  1. old age, an elderly person, the aged, the elderly

Readings[edit]

Compounds[edit]

Compounds

Korean[edit]

Hanja[edit]

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

  1. This entry needs a definition. Please add one, then remove {{defn}}.

Vietnamese[edit]

Han character[edit]

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

  1. This entry needs a definition. Please add one, then remove {{defn}}.
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