老聃

Chinese

		old; aged; venerable old; aged; venerable; outdated; experienced; (affectionate prefix)	ears without rim
trad. (老聃)		老	聃
simp. #(老聃)		老	聃

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): Lǎodān

  (Zhuyin): ㄌㄠˇ ㄉㄢ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): lou⁵ daam¹

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: Lǎodān
    • Zhuyin: ㄌㄠˇ ㄉㄢ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: Lǎodan
    • Wade–Giles: Lao³-tan¹
    • Yale: Lǎu-dān
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: Laodan
    • Palladius: Лаодань (Laodanʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /lɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ tän⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: lou⁵ daam¹
    • Yale: lóuh dāam
    • Cantonese Pinyin: lou⁵ daam¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: lou⁵ dam¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /lou̯¹³ taːm⁵⁵/

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• Middle Chinese: lawX tham

Rime
Character	老	聃
Reading #	1/1	1/1
Initial (聲)	來 (37)	透 (6)
Final (韻)	豪 (89)	談 (143)
Tone (調)	Rising (X)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open
Division (等)	I	I
Fanqie	盧晧切	他酣切
Baxter	lawX	tham
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/lɑuX/	/tʰɑm/
Pan Wuyun	/lɑuX/	/tʰɑm/
Shao Rongfen	/lɑuX/	/tʰɑm/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/lawX/	/tʰam/
Li Rong	/lɑuX/	/tʰɑm/
Wang Li	/lɑuX/	/tʰɑm/
Bernard Karlgren	/lɑuX/	/tʰɑm/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	lǎo	tān
Expected Cantonese Reflex	lou5	taam1

• Old Chinese

  (Zhengzhang): /*ruːʔ  n̥ʰaːm/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	老
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	lǎo
Middle Chinese	‹ lawX ›
Old Chinese	/*C.rˁuʔ/
English	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	老	聃	聃
Reading #	1/1	1/2	2/2
No.	7666	10773	10775
Phonetic component	老	冉	冉
Rime group	幽	談	談
Rime subdivision	1	1	1
Corresponding MC rime	老	舑	舑
Old Chinese	/*ruːʔ/	/*n̥ʰaːm/	/*n̥ʰaːm/

Proper noun

老聃

1. Alternative name for 老子 (Lǎozǐ, “Laozi, the philosopher”).

   • 孔子見老聃，老聃新沐，方將被髮而乾，慹然似非人。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     孔子见老聃，老聃新沐，方将被发而干，𰑔然似非人。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Zhuangzi, circa 3^rd – 2^nd centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Kǒngzǐ jiàn Lǎodān, Lǎodān xīn mù, fāngjiāng bèifà ér qián, zhírán sì fēirén. [Pinyin]

     Confucius went to see Lao Dan, and arrived just as Lao Dan had completed the bathing of his head, and was letting his dishevelled hair get dry. There he was, motionless, and as if there were not another man in the world.