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啃老

Mandarin · pinyin kěn lǎo

(coll.) to live with and depend on one's parents even upon reaching adulthood

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Characters in this entry

啃: kěn · gnaw, chew, bite
老: lǎo · old, aged; experienced; Kangxi radical 125

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Mandarin tones

3–3 · ken3 lao3

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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.

verb

to mooch off one's family

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

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