老本

Mandarin · pinyin lǎo běn

Meanings

  1. capital
  2. assets
  3. savings
  4. nest egg
  5. (fig.) reputation
  6. laurels (to rest upon)
  7. old edition of a book
  8. (tree) trunk
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Characters in this entry

老
lǎo · old, aged; experienced; Kangxi radical 125
本
běn · root, origin, source; basis
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

3–3 · lao3 ben3

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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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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

lou5 bun2

Cantonese word readings for 老本. 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.

noun

  1. capital; principal; assets; savings
  2. (figurative) reputation; merit; glory; past experience
  3. old edition of a book
  4. trunk (of a tree)

adj

  1. (Taiwanese Hokkien) seasoned; experienced

noun

  1. (Hokkien) savings saved up for old age
  2. (Mainland China Hokkien) capital; funds; wealth (of a business)

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

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

老本 · lao3 ben3
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 88,729
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record老本 老本 [lao3 ben3] /capital/assets/savings/nest egg/(fig.) reputation/laurels (to rest upon)/old edition of a book/(tree) trunk/