佬

佬 (radical 9, 人+6, 8 strokes, cangjie input 人十大心 (OJKP), four-corner 2421₁, composition ⿰亻老)

• KangXi: page 100, character 9
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 548
• Dae Jaweon: page 212, character 5
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 144, character 2
• Unihan data for U+4F6C

Phono-semantic compound (形聲) : semantic 亻 (“man; person”) + phonetic 老 (OC *ruːʔ).

Found in certain southern dialects (chiefly Cantonese) as the colloquial word for “man” (for example, in the term 肥佬). Probably related to Zhuang raeuz ~ laeuz (“we; also a demonym: Rau peoples”), a widespread Tai word meaning “we; people” (Proto-Tai *rawᴬ).

Guangdong Xinyu [1678] has the following passage:

Also compare Proto-Hmong *ʔljuwᴮ (“male”) (White Hmong lau (“male”)), Proto-Katuic *-law (“man”), as well as Lao ລາວ (lāo, “Lao < people”), Thai ลาว (laao).

佬

1. (chiefly Cantonese, dialectal Wu, often slightly derogatory) (adult) man; guy; fellow; chap (Classifier: 個／个 c)

   差佬 [Cantonese]  ―  caai¹ lou² [Jyutping]  ―  cop; policeman

   鄉巴佬 / 乡巴佬  ―  xiāngbalǎo  ―  hick; villager

   天上九頭鳥，地上湖北佬 [MSC, trad.]
   天上九头鸟，地上湖北佬 [MSC, simp.]

   tiānshàng jiǔtóuniǎo, dìshàng Húběi lǎo [Pinyin]

   Heaven above [has] nine-headed birds, [but] Earth below [has] Hubei folk (meaning Hubei people are clever/crafty)

   • 從前有個王子佢懵懵下，有一日，佢變咗個佬。 [Cantonese, trad.]
     从前有个王子佢懵懵下，有一日，佢变咗个佬。 [Cantonese, simp.]

     From: 2004, 《麥兜菠蘿油王子》 (McDull, Prince de la Bun)

     Cung⁴ cin⁴ jau⁵ go³ wong⁴ zi² keoi⁵ mung² mung² haa⁵, jau⁵ jat¹ jat⁶, keoi⁵ bin³ zo² go³ lou². [Jyutping]

     Once upon a time, there was a prince who was a fool. One day, he became a middle-aged guy.

• In Cantonese, when it is used as a standalone word, it usually refers to a middle-aged man.
• Mainly used as a colloquial suffix to denote “-er”.

佬

1. Only used in 侾佬.

(uncommon “Hyōgai” kanji)

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

• Go-on: りょう (ryō)^{←れう (reu, historical)}
• Kan-on: りょう (ryō)^{←れう (reu, historical)}
• Kun: おおきい (ōkii)

佬 (lão)

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

• Nom Foundation