老實

简 老实 · 繁 老實
Mandarin · pinyin lǎo shi

Meanings

  1. honest; sincere
  2. well-behaved
  3. naive; gullible
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Characters in this entry

老
lǎo · old, aged; experienced; Kangxi radical 125
實
shí · real, true, solid, honest
实
shí · real, true; honest, sincere
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

3–5 · lao3 shi5

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3character links1same-tone record
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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.

老實 · find source passages ↗ · 老实 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 5 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

lou5 sat6

Cantonese word readings for 老實. 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

  1. honest; genuine
  2. frank; blunt
  3. disciplined; well-behaved
  4. (euphemistic) naive; simple-minded; gullible

adv

  1. honestly; frankly; bluntly

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack