DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

老蚌生珠

Mandarin · pinyin lǎo bàng shēng zhū

lit. an old oyster producing a pearl (idiom)
fig. birthing a son at an advanced age

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

老: lǎo · old, aged; experienced; Kangxi radical 125
蚌: bàng · oysters, mussels; mother-of-pearl
生: shēng · life, living, lifetime; birth
珠: zhū · precious stone, gem, jewel, pearl

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

3–4–1–1 · lao3 bang4 sheng1 zhu1

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

4character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

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.

老蚌生珠 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

lou5 pong5 saang1 zyu1

Cantonese word readings for 老蚌生珠. 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.

phrase

(originally) to have a virtuous son
(idiomatic) to have a child at an old age

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

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