DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT
老大
Mandarin · pinyin lǎo dà
Meanings
- old age
- very
- eldest child in a family
- leader of a group
- boss
- captain of a boat
- leader of a criminal gang
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Mandarin tones
3–4 · lao3 da4
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
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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 · 6 senses · 1 Cantonese reading
Rime Cantonese 粵拼
lou5 daai2
Cantonese word readings for 老大. 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.
adj
- (literary) old (in age)
noun
- eldest among the siblings
- chief; boss; leader; ringleader
noun
- (dialectal) chief crewman of a boat
adv
- (colloquial, usually in the negative) very
noun
- (Suzhounese) fellow; guy; chap
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
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