上有老下有小
Meanings
- lit. above are the elderly, below are the young (idiom)
- fig. to have to take care of both one's aging parents and one's children
- sandwich generation
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Mandarin tones
4–3–3–4–3–3 · shang4 you3 lao3 xia4 you3 xiao3
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
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Read this spelling in Classical texts
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.
Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading
Rime Cantonese 粵拼
soeng6 jau5 lou5 haa6 jau5 siu2
Cantonese word readings for 上有老下有小. 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
- to have both one's aging parents and one's young children to take care of; to be a member of the sandwich generation
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
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