lǎo venerable; old

Made up of [ lǎo old radical 125, spoon; ladle radical 21]
Made with 6 strokes.
A simplification of the characters for 'hair'; 'person' and 'change' immediately suggesting the change to white hair of the elderly
Ancient small seal form Small seal

Related characters


Also uses lǎo component: shǔ (heat) xiào (filial piety or obedience) zhě (in process of)
Also uses component: běi (north) (this) huà (to make into) huá (splendid) huā (flower) ne (and you?) néng (to be able to) (die) (it)

Sounds same

lǎo (old)

Different tone

láo (to toil)

< Previous láo Next lǎo >

Pronunciation

Sound file kindly provided by shtooka.net under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License

stroke order for 老
Stroke order for character 老, kindly provided under Wikimedia creative commons license

People

老子 Lao Zi

Proverbs

穿新鞋,走老路 chuān xīn xié, zǒu lǎo lù Stick to the old ways while appearing to follow the latest trends
姜是老的辣 jiāng shì lǎo de là Experience gives wisdom
老骥伏枥,志在千里 lǎo jì fú lì, zhì zài qiān lǐ Ambitions never fade. An old person still has high hopes
老奸巨猾 lǎo jiān jù huá To be tricky, cunning, crafty. Well versed in the ways of the world
老气横秋 lǎo qì héng qiū No longer youthful
识途老马 shí tú laǒ mǎ Age brings experience and wisdom

Phrases

nǐ hǎo lǎo lín Hello Mr. Lin

Also

老子 lǎo zǐ Laozi