| 老 |
| 1. old; aged; elderly | |
| Antonyms: 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 | |
| Antonyms: 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 outdated; old-fashioned | |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 | |
| Antonyms: 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 | |
| 老傢夥 - | |
| 老東西 - | |
| 老雜碎 - | |
| 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 | |
