| Component |
Pinyin |
Meanings |
|---|
| 老 |
lǎo |
1. old; aged; elderly |
|
(ant, zh, 幼, 少) |
|
老樹 - old tree |
|
老 婦人 - old woman |
|
人 老 了 記憶力 就 差 了。 - One's memory worsens when age increases. |
|
2. old (as opposed to new); of long standing |
|
(ant, zh, 新) |
|
老 歌 - old song |
|
老朋友 - old friend |
|
3. outdated; old-fashioned |
|
4. original; former |
|
老 地方 - usual place |
|
老 本行háng - original profession |
|
5. the elderly; one's elders |
|
敬老 - to respect the elderly |
|
6. (Used after the surname of an old person to address a venerable old person) |
|
王 老 - revered old Wang |
|
7. (figurative) experienced |
|
(ant, zh, 嫩) |
|
老手 - an old hand |
|
老兵 - veteran |
|
8. (literary) to respect (the elderly, one's elders) |
|
9. (of cooked food) overcooked; tough; stringy; hard |
|
牛排 太 老 了，我 咬 不 動 它。 - The steak was so tough I couldn't eat it. |
|
這 雞蛋 煮 老 了，你 沒 掌握 好 火候。 - This egg is hard; you didn't time it properly. |
|
10. (of food or potable liquids) stale; not fresh |
|
11. always; all the time |
|
你 別 老 這樣！ - Stop being always like this! |
|
12. (chiefly dialectal) very; quite |
|
老早 - very early |
|
他 人 老 好 了。 - He is such a nice person! colloquial, somewhat regional |
|
看到 儂 真個 老 開心。 (2khoe tau&3non&1tsen geq&3lau&1khe xin, SH) - I am really happy to see you. |
|
13. (euphemistic, of an elderly person) to die; to pass away (usually with tr=le) |
|
14. (affectionate, respectful) (Used before surnames to refer to heads or elder members of families.) |
|
→ 小 (for younger people) |
|
老 張 馬上 來 了，我 得děi 趕緊 收拾 一 下 屋 子。 - Old Zhang is going to be here any minute. I need to hurry up and straighten the room up a bit. |
|
15. (usually respectful and affectionate) (Used by analogy in several other relationship terms.) |
|
老師 - teacher |
|
老婆 - wifey |
|
老公 - hubby |
|
16. (obsolete, originally, honorific) (Prefix for animals or people considered senior, fierce, and often awe-inspiring.) |
|
老鷹 - eagle |
|
老虎 - tiger |
|
老鼠 - mouse, rat; (obsolete) bat |
|
老狼 - (rare) elder and experienced wolf |
|
老貓 - (rare) elder (potentially annoying) cat |
|
老狐狸 - (surviving usage) elder, cunning and experienced fox |
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老傢夥 - |
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老東西 - |
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老雜碎 - |
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17. (colloquial) (Used before nouns, especially names of ethnicities, places and countries, to form nouns.) |
|
老外 - foreigner; (pejorative) layman, one who lacks knowledge of a subject |
|
老美 - Yank |
|
老表 - a friend (direct speech, may be intimate or offensive depending on provinces) |
|
老毛子zi - (pejorative) Russian person |
|
老蒙古 - (pejorative) Mongols |
|
老北京 - indigenous Beijing person |
|
老山東 - indigenous Shandong person |
|
老西兒r - (affectionate) Shanxi person |
|
老回回 - Hui person (affectionate in some cases, pejorative in other cases, never neutral, depend on the region, speaker, listener situation and speaking mood) |
|
18. Short for 老子, Laozi; Lao Tzu |
|
19. (Mainland China, Hong Kong) Short for 老撾, Laos |
匕 |
bǐ |
1. (historical) a kind of spoon in ancient China | |
2. (literary) dagger |
|
3. Original form of 妣 (deceased mother) |
|
4. Variant of 牝 |
