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老生常談

简 老生常谈 · 繁 老生常談
Mandarin · pinyin lǎo shēng cháng tán

Meanings

  1. an old observation (idiom)
  2. a truism
  3. banal comments
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Characters in this entry

老
lǎo · old, aged; experienced; Kangxi radical 125
生
shēng · life, living, lifetime; birth
常
cháng · common, normal, frequent, regular
談
tán · talk; conversation; surname
谈
tán · talk; conversation; surname
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Entries containing 老生常談 ↗Words written with 老 ↗Words written with 生 ↗Words written with 常 ↗Words written with 談 ↗Words written with 谈 ↗

Mandarin tones

3–1–2–2 · lao3 sheng1 chang2 tan2

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

lou5 sang1 soeng4 taam4

Cantonese word readings for 老生常談. 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.

phrase

  1. (idiomatic) clichés; trite remarks; platitude

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack