老
Meanings · lou5
- (adjective) overlooked
Meanings · lou5
- 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- outdated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
- old age
- abbreviation for Laotse, the founder of Taoism
- a surname
- to retire from official service
- to become old
- to honor the aged
- shameless, thick-skinned
- familiar term of respect for elderly people
- decrepit
- hardened
- steady
- trustworthy
- dark
- deep (colour)
- youngest (in Beijing dialect)
- parents
About these definitions
Source definition segments, in their original order. Characters a definition cites are shown without their Mandarin pinyin; classifier lists that CC-Canto copied from CC-CEDICT are marked Mandarin. The community dictionary is not independently verified by zimai.
Reading & tones
Schematic citation-tone diagrams from the source numbers. These are not recordings or predictions of connected speech.
Same syllable, six tones
Characters whose customary Unihan reading (kCantonese) is this syllable in each tone, chosen as in the tone atlas (2013 standard level, then the number of CC-CEDICT words they form), with CC-Canto 2017's meaning for that reading; a dash means no catalogue character has that reading. Checked syllables (-p, -t, -k) normally carry tones 1, 3 and 6. Character readings, not word readings; no frequency implied.
Written characters
Both source spellings are represented. Written membership is not an etymological or semantic claim.
Mandarin comparison · separate source entries
CC-CEDICT, the Mandarin–English dictionary, lists the same written form:
- 老 lǎo CC-CEDICT · Mandarinprefix 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; …
A separate source entry, shown for comparison. The same characters can carry different senses in Mandarin and in Cantonese; zimai does not align these senses.
CC-Canto includes this pinyin reference: lao3. It does not establish a Mandarin word with the same meaning.
Look up this spelling in the Mandarin dictionary ↗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.
CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack
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
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack