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大佬

Mandarin · pinyin dà lǎo

big shot (leading some field or group); godfather (in an organization)

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Characters in this entry

大: dà · big, great, vast, large, high
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

4–3 · da4 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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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 7 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

daai6 lou2

Cantonese word readings for 大佬. 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.

noun · Etymology 1

(Cantonese) elder brother; big brother
(Cantonese) old buddy
triad boss; boss; magnate
(Cantonese, video games) boss
(Mandarin, neologism, slang) someone experienced or influential. From Cantonese 大佬 (daai⁶ lou²).

intj · Etymology 1

(Cantonese) bro; man

noun · Etymology 2

(Xiamen Hokkien) cheat; trickster; impostor; cheater; swindler

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

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