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養兒防老

简养儿防老 · 繁養兒防老

Mandarin · pinyin yǎng ér fáng lǎo

(of parents) to bring up children for the purpose of being looked after in old age

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Characters in this entry

養: yǎng · raise, rear, bring up; support
兒: ér · son, child, oneself; final part
防: fáng · defend; prevent; embankment
老: lǎo · old, aged; experienced; Kangxi radical 125
养: yǎng · raise, rear, bring up; support
儿: ér · son, child; Kangxi radical 10

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

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Mandarin tones

3–2–2–3 · yang3 er2 fang2 lao3

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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.

養兒防老 · find source passages ↗ · 养儿防老 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

joeng5 ji4 fong4 lou5

Cantonese word readings for 養兒防老. 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.

phrase

(of parents) to bring up children for the purpose of being looked after in old age

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

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