DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT
老
Mandarin · pinyin lǎo
Meanings
- prefix used before the surname of a person or a numeral indicating the order of birth of the children in a family or to indicate affection or familiarity
- old (of people)
- venerable (person)
- experienced
- of long standing
- always
- all the time
- of the past
- very
- outdated
- (of meat etc) tough
Characters in this entry
- 老
- lǎo · old, aged; experienced; Kangxi radical 125
Explore the spelling
Mandarin tones
3 · lao3
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
Connected dictionary
1character link15same-tone records
Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.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 · 21 senses · 1 Cantonese reading
Rime Cantonese 粵拼
lou5
Cantonese word readings for 老. 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.
character
- old; aged; senior; elderly
- old (as opposed to new); of long standing
- outdated; old-fashioned
- original; former
- the elderly; one's elders
- Used after the surname of an old person to address a venerable old person
- (figurative) experienced
- (literary) to respect (the elderly, one's elders)
- (of cooked food) overcooked; tough; stringy; hard
- (of food or potable liquids) stale; not fresh
- always; all the time
- (chiefly dialectal) very; quite
- (euphemistic, of an elderly person) to die; to pass away (usually with 了 (le) or 掉 (diào))
- (endearing, respectful) Used before surnames to refer to heads or elder members of families.
- (usually respectful and endearing) Used by analogy in several other relationship terms.
- (originally honorific) Prefix for animals or people considered senior, fierce, and often awe-inspiring.
- (colloquial) Used before names of ethnicities, places and countries, to form demonyms.
- (Cantonese, colloquial) Prefix in nouns or verbs with negative impressions or connotations.
- (Cantonese, colloquial) Prefix attached to names of places or organizations to express familiarity.
- (abbreviation, alt-of) short for 老子 (Lǎozǐ, “Laozi; Lao Tzu”)
- (Mainland China, Hong Kong) short for 老撾／老挝 (Lǎowō, “Laos”)
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
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