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老辣

Mandarin · pinyin lǎo là

shrewd and ruthless
efficient and unscrupulous

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Characters in this entry

老: lǎo · old, aged; experienced; Kangxi radical 125
辣: là · peppery, pungent, hot; cruel

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

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Mandarin tones

3–4 · lao3 la4

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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 laat6

Cantonese word readings for 老辣. 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.

adj

shrewd and ruthless
smooth and vigorous

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

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