Definify.com
Definition 2024
老
老
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See also: 耂
Translingual
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Han character
老 (radical 125 老+0, 6 strokes, cangjie input 十大心 (JKP), four-corner 44711, composition ⿱耂匕)
- Kangxi radical #125, ⽼ (“old”).
References
- 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
Chinese
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simp. and trad. |
老 | |
|---|---|---|
Glyph origin
| Historical forms of the character 老
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| Oracle bone script | Bronze inscriptions | Bamboo and silk script | Large seal script | Small seal script |
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| Characters in the same phonetic series (老) (Zhengzhang, 2003) | |
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| Old Chinese | |
| 老 | *ruːʔ |
| 姥 | *ruːʔ, *maːʔ |
| 栳 | *ruːʔ |
| 恅 | *ruːʔ |
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
- Mandarin
- Cantonese (Jyutping): lou5
- Hakka (Sixian, PFS): ló
- Min Dong (BUC): lō̤
- Min Nan (POJ): lāu / láu / ló / nó͘
- Wu (Wiktionary): lau (T3)
- Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese, Beijing)+
- Pinyin:
- Zhuyin: ㄌㄠˇ
- Wade-Giles: lao3
- Gwoyeu Romatzyh: lao
- IPA (key): /lɑʊ̯²¹⁴/
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- (Standard Chinese, Beijing)+
- Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)+
- Jyutping: lou5
- Yale: lóuh
- Cantonese Pinyin: lou5
- IPA (key): /lou̯¹³/
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)+
- Hakka
- (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
- Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: ló
- Hakka Romanization System: lo`
- Hagfa Pinyim: lo3
- IPA: /lo³¹/
- (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
- Min Dong
- (Fuzhou)
- Bàng-uâ-cê: lō̤
- IPA (key): /l̃o³³/
- (Fuzhou)
- Min Nan
- (Hokkien)
- Pe̍h-ōe-jī: lāu / láu / ló / nó͘
- Tâi-lô: lāu / láu / ló / nóo
- Phofsit Daibuun: lau, lao, loir, nor
- IPA (Xiamen): /laʊ²²/, /laʊ⁵³/, /lɤ⁵³/, /nɔ⁵³/
- IPA (Quanzhou): /laʊ⁴¹/, /laʊ⁵⁵⁴/, /lɤ⁵⁵⁴/, /nɔ⁵⁵⁴/
- IPA (Zhangzhou): /laʊ²²/, /laʊ⁵³/, /lɤ⁵³/, /nɔ⁵³/
- IPA (Taipei): /laʊ³³/, /laʊ⁵³/, /lo⁵³/, /nɔ⁵³/
- IPA (Kaohsiung): /laʊ³³/, /laʊ⁴¹/, /lɤ⁴¹/, /nɔ⁴¹/
- (Hokkien)
- Wu
- (Shanghainese)
- Wiktionary: lau (T3)
- IPA (key): /lɔ²³/
- (Shanghainese)
| Rime | |
|---|---|
| Character | 老 |
| Reading # | 1/1 |
| Initial (聲) | 來 (37) |
| Final (韻) | 豪 (89) |
| Tone (調) | Rising (X) |
| Openness (開合) | Open |
| Division (等) | I |
| Fanqie | 盧晧切 |
| Reconstructions | |
| Zhengzhang Shangfang |
/lɑuX/ |
| Pan Wuyun |
/lɑuX/ |
| Shao Rongfen |
/lɑuX/ |
| Edwin Pulleyblank |
/lawX/ |
| Li Rong |
/lɑuX/ |
| Wang Li |
/lɑuX/ |
| Bernard Karlgren |
/lɑuX/ |
| Expected Mandarin Reflex |
lǎo |
| Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014) | |
|---|---|
| Character | 老 |
| Reading # | 1/1 |
| Modern Beijing (Pinyin) |
lǎo |
| Middle Chinese |
‹ lawX › |
| Old Chinese |
/*C.rˤuʔ/ |
| English | old |
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter-Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; | |
| Zhengzhang system (2003) | |
|---|---|
| Character | 老 |
| Reading # | 1/1 |
| No. | 7666 |
| Phonetic component |
老 |
| Rime group |
幽 |
| Rime subdivision |
1 |
| Corresponding MC rime |
老 |
| Old Chinese |
/*ruːʔ/ |
Definitions
老
- old, aged, elderly (for persons, animate and inanimate objects generally)
- † the elderly, one's elders
- experienced
- † to respect (the elderly, one's elders)
- overcooked, tough, stringy, hard (used in reference to cooked food or meat)
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- 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.
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- 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.
-
- stale, not fresh (used in reference to food or potable liquids)
- always, all the time
- (chiefly dialectal) very, quite
- → 很 (hěn)
- (affectionate, respectful) Used before surnames to refer to heads or elder members of families.
- → 小 (xiǎo) (for younger people)
- (usually respectful and affectionate) Used by analogy in several other relationship terms.
- (zoology) Used before several animals considered noxious or unpleasant.
- (colloquial) Used before placenames, particularly countries, to form nouns.
Compounds
Derived terms from 老
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Japanese
Kanji
老
Readings
- Goon: ろう (rō)
- Kan’on: ろう (rō)
- Kun: お.いる (老いる, oiru), ふ.ける (老ける, fukeru), おい (oi) (non-Jōyō reading)
- Nanori: えび (ebi), おい (oi), び (bi)