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老早

Mandarin · pinyin lǎo zǎo

a long time ago

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Characters in this entry

老: lǎo · old, aged; experienced; Kangxi radical 125
早: zǎo · early; soon; morning

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

3–3 · lao3 zao3

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Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

lou5 zou2

Cantonese word readings for 老早. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

adv

very early
long ago

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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