老婆

Chinese

		old; aged; venerable old; aged; venerable; outdated; experienced; (affectionate prefix)	grandmother; matron; mother-in-law
simp. and trad. (老婆)		老	婆

Pronunciation 1

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): lǎopo

  (Zhuyin): ㄌㄠˇ ㄆㄛ˙

• Cantonese (Jyutping): lou⁵ po⁴
• Min Nan (POJ): lāu-pô / láu-pô / láu-phó

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, Beijing)⁺
    • Pinyin: lǎopo
    • Zhuyin: ㄌㄠˇ ㄆㄛ˙
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: lao.po
    • IPA ^(key): /lɑʊ̯²¹⁴ pʰu̯ɔ⁴/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: lou⁵ po⁴
    • Yale: lóuh pòh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: lou⁵ po⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: lou⁵ po⁴
    • IPA ^(key): /lou̯¹³ pʰɔː²¹/
• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: lāu-pô
    • Tâi-lô: lāu-pô
    • Phofsit Daibuun: lauxpooi
    • IPA (Xiamen): /laʊ²²⁻²¹ po²⁴/
  • (Hokkien: Quanzhou, Zhangzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: láu-pô
    • Tâi-lô: láu-pô
    • Phofsit Daibuun: law'pooi
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /laʊ⁵⁵⁴⁻²⁴ po²⁴/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /laʊ⁵³⁻⁴⁴ po¹³/
  • (Hokkien: dated in Taiwan)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: láu-phó
    • Tâi-lô: láu-phó
    • Phofsit Daibuun: lawphoir
    • IPA (Taipei): /laʊ⁵³⁻⁴⁴ pʰo⁵³/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /laʊ⁴¹⁻⁴⁴ pʰɤ⁴¹/

Noun

老婆

1. (colloquial) wife

   我給我老婆一個飛吻。 [MSC, trad.]

   我给我老婆一个飞吻。 [MSC, simp.]

   Wǒ gěi wǒ lǎopo yī ge fēiwěn. [Pinyin]

   I blew a kiss to my wife.

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 妻子 (“wife”) [map]
Variety	Location	Words edit
Classical Chinese		妻、妻兒、內人、夫人、娘子
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		妻子、夫人、太太、妻室、妻房
Mandarin	Beijing	女人、媳婦兒
	Taiwan	太太、老婆、牽手
	Jinan	老婆、媳婦、女的、家裡
	Xi'an	女人、媳婦兒、老婆、屋裡人
	Wuhan	女的、女將、屋裡、堂客
	Chengdu	女的、女人、婆娘
	Yangzhou	老婆、媽媽、堂客
	Hefei	老婆、奶奶們
Cantonese	Guangzhou	老婆、女人
	Hong Kong	老婆、女人
	Taishan	老婆
	Yangjiang	老婆、家下
Gan	Nanchang	老婆、女客
Hakka	Meixian	老婆
	Xingning	老婆
	Huidong	老婆
	Qujiang	老婆
	Xiaosanjiang	婆娜
	Changting	老婆
	Pingyu	老婆、餔娘
	Wuping	老婆
	Liancheng	婦娘
	Ninghua	老婆
	Ruijin	老婆、婦娘
	Shicheng	老婆
	Shangyou	老婆
	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	餔娘、老姐
	Liudui (S. Sixian)	姐仔
	Hsinchu (Hailu)	餔娘、老姐
	Dongshi (Dabu)	餔娘、老姐
	Zhuolan (Raoping)	餔娘、老姐
	Yunlin (Zhao'an)	夫娘
Jin	Taiyuan	家裡的、女人、老婆
Min Bei	Jian'ou	老媽
Min Dong	Fuzhou	老媽、諸娘人、厝裡
Min Nan	Xiamen	某、牽手、牽手的、查某人、厝內、厝內人、家內、家內人、家後、內人、內助、婦人人、柴耙、老柴杮、老柴㷮
	Quanzhou	某、牽手、牽手的、查某人、厝內、家內、家內人、家後、內人、內助、婦人人
	Zhangzhou	某、牽手、牽手的、查某人、厝內、厝內人、家內、家內人、家後、內人、內助、婦人人
	Taipei	太太、某、牽手
	Kaohsiung	太太、某、查某人、柴耙、牽手、牽的、煮飯的
	Tainan	太太、某、查某人、柴耙、牽手、牽的、煮飯的
	Taichung	某、家後、牽手
	Hsinchu	某、家後、查某人、煮飯的、柴耙
	Lukang	某、查某人、柴耙、牽手、煮飯的
	Sanxia	太太、阮厝的查某人、阿貼的、後柴耙、某
	Yilan	太太、某、查某人、家後、柴耙、牽手、牽的、煮飯的
	Kinmen	某、家內、太的
	Magong	某、牽手、查某人、姿娘、夫人、家內、柴耙
	Penang	某、查某人、家後
	Singapore	某、厝內、厝內人
	Chaozhou	某
Wu	Shanghai	老婆、太太、妻子、夫人、內人、女人、家主婆、屋裡個、屋裡
	Suzhou	女人、家小、家主婆、屋裡
	Wenzhou	老安、老人客、屋裡
Xiang	Changsha	堂客
	Shuangfeng	堂客、老婆

Antonyms

• 老公 (lǎogōng)

Usage notes

• The colloquial terms 老公 (lǎogōng) and 老婆 are preferred to formal in informal conversations.

Derived terms

• 怕老婆 (pàlǎopo)

See also

• 愛人／爱人 (àirén)

Pronunciation 2

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): lǎopó

  (Zhuyin): ㄌㄠˇ ㄆㄛˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): lou⁵ po⁴
• Min Nan (POJ): lāu-pô / lǎu-pô

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, Beijing)⁺
    • Pinyin: lǎopó
    • Zhuyin: ㄌㄠˇ ㄆㄛˊ
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: laopor
    • IPA ^(key): /lɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹¹ pʰu̯ɔ³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: lou⁵ po⁴
    • Yale: lóuh pòh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: lou⁵ po⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: lou⁵ po⁴
    • IPA ^(key): /lou̯¹³ pʰɔː²¹/
• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Zhangzhou, mainstream Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: lāu-pô
    • Tâi-lô: lāu-pô
    • Phofsit Daibuun: lauxpooi
    • IPA (Xiamen): /laʊ²²⁻²¹ po²⁴/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /laʊ²²⁻²¹ po¹³/
    • IPA (Taipei): /laʊ³³⁻¹¹ po²⁴/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /laʊ³³⁻²¹ pɤ²³/
  • (Hokkien: Quanzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: lǎu-pô
    • Tâi-lô: lǎu-pô
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /laʊ²² po²⁴/

Noun

老婆

1. (literary) old woman
2. (literary) old female servant

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Japanese

Kanji in this term
老	婆
ろう Grade: 4	ば Grade: S
on'yomi

Noun

老婆 (hiragana ろうば, rōmaji rōba)

1. old woman