老

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

1. Kangxi radical #125, ⽼.

• Index:Chinese radical/老

• 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

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”).

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”).

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: 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: Mencius, circa 4^th century BCE

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

     Respect my elders, and then others' elders.

5. (of cooked food) overcooked; tough; stringy; hard

   • 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. (of food or potable liquids) stale; not fresh
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
   • 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. (obsolete, originally honorific) Prefix for animals or people considered senior, fierce, and often awe-inspiring.
    • 老鷹 / 老鹰  ―  lǎoyīng  ―  eagle
    • 老虎  ―  lǎohǔ  ―  tiger
    • 老鼠  ―  lǎoshǔ  ―  mouse, rat; (obsolete) bat
    • 老狼  ―  lǎoláng  ―  (rare) elder and experienced wolf
    • 老貓 / 老猫  ―  lǎomāo  ―  (rare) elder (potentially annoying) cat
    • 老狐狸  ―  lǎohúlí  ―  (surviving usage) elder, cunning and experienced fox
    • 老傢夥 / 老傢伙  ―  lǎo傢huǒ  ―  (please add an English translation of this example)
    • 老東西 / 老东西  ―  lǎodōngxī  ―  (please add an English translation of this example)
    • 老雜碎 / 老杂碎  ―  lǎozásuì  ―  (please add an English translation of this example)
12. (colloquial) Used before nouns, especially names of ethnicities, places and countries, to form nouns.
    • 老外  ―  lǎowài  ―  foreigner; (pejorative) layman, one who lacks knowledge of a subject
    • 老美  ―  lǎoměi  ―  Yank
    • 老表  ―  lǎobiǎo  ―  a friend (direct speech, may be intimate or offensive depending on provinces)
    • 老毛子  ―  lǎomáozi  ―  (pejorative) Russian person
    • 老蒙古  ―  lǎoménggǔ  ―  (pejorative) Mongols
    • 老北京  ―  lǎoběijīng  ―  indigenous Beijing person
    • 老山東 / 老山东  ―  lǎoshāndōng  ―  indigenous Shandong person
    • 老西兒 / 老西儿  ―  lǎoxīr  ―  (affectionate) Shanxi person
    • 老回回  ―  lǎohuíhuí  ―  Hui person (affectionate in some cases, pejorative in other cases, never neutral, depend on the region, speaker, listener situation and speaking mood)
13. (Mainland China, Hong Kong) Short for 老撾／老挝 (Lǎowō, “Laos”).

• (old):

• (very):

(grade 4 “Kyōiku” kanji)

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

• Go-on: ろう (rō, Jōyō)^{←らう (rau, historical)}
• Kan-on: ろう (rō, Jōyō)^{←らう (rau, historical)}
• Kun: おいる (oiru, 老いる, Jōyō); ふける (fukeru, 老ける, Jōyō); おい (oi)
• Nanori: えび (ebi); おい (oi); び (bi)

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}}.

老: Hán Việt readings: lão[1][2][3]
老: Nôm readings: lảo[1][3][4], lảu[1][3][4], lão[1][2], lẽo[1][3], láu[3][4], rảu[3][4], láo[1], lạo[1], não[1], rau[1], sáu[1], lểu[2], lếu[3], lẩu[3]

1. Hán tự form of lão (“old; aged”).