北方佬

Mandarin · pinyin běi fāng lǎo

Meanings

  1. northerner
  2. guy from the north
  3. Yankee
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Characters in this entry

北
běi · north; northern; northward
方
fāng · a square, rectangle; a region; local
佬
lǎo · (Cant.) man, person; mature
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

3–1–3 · bei3 fang1 lao3

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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.

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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.

noun

  1. northerner

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

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