老

Han character

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

1. Kangxi radical #125, ⽼.

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 老
Shang	Western Zhou	Warring States	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Chu Slip and silk script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Ideogrammic compound (會意) : 人 (“man”) + 毛 (“hair”) + 匕 (“cane”) – a man with long hair (an old man), leaning on a cane. Compare top component to 孝 (OC *qʰruːs).

Cognate to 考 (OC *kʰluːʔ); the most commonly cited example of 轉注 (“reciprocal meaning”).

Etymology

Unknown. Compare Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-raw (“withered, residue, corpse”), *rwat (“stiff, tough”), whence Burmese ရော် (rau, “wither, become overripe; age”), ရွတ် (rwat, “old, stiff, tough”). See also 古 (gǔ), 故 (gù).

An old Sino-Vietnamese borrowing is rệu (“overripe, pulpy”).

Pronunciation

Definitions

老

1. old, aged, elderly (for persons, animate and inanimate objects generally)

   • 人老了記憶力就差了。 [MSC, trad.]
     人老了记忆力就差了。 [MSC, simp.]

     Rén lǎo le jìyìlì jiù chā le. [Pinyin]

     One's memory worsens when age increases.

2. ^† the elderly, one's elders

   • 老吾老，以及人之老。 [Classical Chinese, trad. and simp.]

     From: Mengzi (Mencius), circa 4^th century BCE

     Lǎo wú lǎo, yǐjí rén zhī lǎo. [Pinyin]

     Respect my elders, and then others' elders.

3. experienced
4. ^† to respect (the elderly, one's elders)

   • 老吾老，以及人之老。 [Classical Chinese, trad. and simp.]

     From: Mengzi (Mencius), circa 4^th century BCE

     Lǎo wú lǎo, yǐjí rén zhī lǎo. [Pinyin]

     Respect my elders, and then others' elders.

5. 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，你沒掌握好火候。 [MSC, trad.]
     这鸡蛋煮老了，你没掌握好火候。 [MSC, simp.]

     Zhè jīdàn zhǔ lǎo le, nǐ méi zhǎngwò hǎo huǒhòu. [Pinyin]

     This egg is hard; you didn't time it properly.

6. stale, not fresh (used in reference to food or potable liquids)
7. always, all the time
   • 你別老這樣！ / 你别老这样！  ―  Nǐ bié lǎo zhèyàng!  ―  Stop being always like this!
8. (chiefly dialectal) very, quite

   → 很 (hěn)

   • 他人老好了。  ―  Tā rén lǎo hǎo le.  ―  He is such a nice person! [colloquial, somewhat regional]

   • 看到儂真個老開心。 [Shanghainese, trad.]
     看到侬真个老开心。 [Shanghainese, simp.]

     [kʰø³³ tɔ⁴⁴ nʊŋ²³ t͡səɲ⁵⁵ g̊əʔ²¹ lɔ²³ kʰe̞⁵⁵ ɕɪɲ²¹] [IPA]

     I am really happy to see you.

9. (affectionate, respectful) Used before surnames to refer to heads or elder members of families.

   → 小 (xiǎo) (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 děi 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.

10. (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
11. (zoology) Used before several animals considered noxious or unpleasant.
    • 老虎  ―  lǎohǔ  ―  tiger
    • 老鼠  ―  lǎoshǔ  ―  mouse
12. (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  ―  lǎomáozi  ―  (pejorative) Russian person
13. (Mainland China, Hong Kong) Short for 老撾／老挝 (Lǎowō, “Laos”).

Compounds

Kanji

(grade 4 “Kyōiku” kanji)

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

Hanja

老 • (ro>no) (hangeul 로>노)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Han character

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

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.