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Kanji Detail for 老 - "aged"

老

  • Meaning

    老 means "aged." Also associated with experienced, venerable, longevity.

    1. Aged - Growing old; advanced in years; elderly person.

    2. Experienced - Having accumulated knowledge through time; seasoned and wise.

    3. Venerable - Deserving respect due to age; treated with reverence as an elder.

    4. Retire - To withdraw from active work due to age.

    5. Laozi - The ancient Chinese philosopher, founder of Taoism.

  • Words using 老

    • 老人 ろうじん Listen old person; senior citizen; the aged
    • 老人ホーム ろうじんホーム Listen retirement home; old people's home; senior citizens' home
    • 老後 ろうご Listen old age
    • 長老 ちょうろう Listen elder; senior; senior monk
    • 老衰 ろうすい Listen senility; senile decay; infirmity (through age)
    • 老朽 ろうきゅう Listen infirmity (due to old age); decrepitude; senility
    • 老い おい Listen old age; ageing; aging
    • 老齢 ろうれい Listen old age; advanced age

  • Four-character idioms with 老

    • 老若男女 ろうにゃくなんにょ Listen men and women of all ages
    • 不老不死 ふろうふし Listen perpetual youth and longevity; immortality
    • 不老長寿 ふろうちょうじゅ Listen perpetual youth and longevity
    • 不老長生 ふろうちょうせい Listen perpetual youth and longevity; long life without growing old
    • 偕老同穴 かいろうどうけつ Listen happy life partnership; living faithfully together till death; Venus's flower basket (Euplectella aspergillum)
    • 月下老人 げっかろうじん Listen go-between; matchmaker

  • Origin of 老

    A pictograph of an elder — long hair streaming, back bent over a cane, the lower element a body transformed by years. Age drawn with respect: the hair kept long.

    How to remember it: Long hair, bent back, cane — an elder walking, drawn from life.

    Sources: en.wiktionary.org · mojinavi.com

  • Tattoo check: 老

    • Verified meaning: aged
    • Official Jōyō kanji — a standard character every Japanese reader recognises
    • Used in real Japanese given names (read おい, おいさき, ろう)
    • Also carries these associations: experienced, venerable, longevity

    A single kanji rarely maps one-to-one onto an English word. Read the meanings and associations above as a set — a character that fits the dictionary definition can still carry a connotation you did not intend.

  • Name readings of 老

    Surnames 老(おい)Listen 老(おいさき)Listen 老(ろう)Listen

  • Dictionary Citations

    The meaning above is based on the following sources:

    KANJIDIC2 A comprehensive Japanese-English kanji dictionary

    old man; old age; grow old

    Unihan Unicode Han Database for CJK characters

    old, aged; experienced; Kangxi radical 125

    CC-CEDICT A Chinese-English dictionary

    prefix used before the surname of a person or a numeral indicating the order of birth of the children in a family or to indicate affection or familiarity; old (of people); venerable (person); experienced; of long standing; always; all the time; of the past; very; outdated; (of meat etc) tough

    Make Me a Hanzi Open-source Chinese character data

    old, aged; experienced

    XSZD Xuéshēng Zìdiǎn (學生字典) - Student's Dictionary

    A term for those seventy years old. Seen in (Record of Rites, Summary of Ceremonies). Now all who are elderly are called 老. Such as 父老 (village elders), 老者 (the aged). | All those with venerable status are also called 老. Such as senior statesmen are called 元老 (elder statesman). The abbot of a Buddhist temple is called 長老 (senior monk). Now when friends converse, the honorific 某老 (Elder So-and-so) is also this meaning. The informal 老某 (Old So-and-so) uses 老 as a prefix. Su Dongpo's poems already set this precedent. Seen in (Rongzhai Third Notes). | To decline. Such as retiring from office is called 告老 (requesting retirement due to age). Meaning one's strength is declining and one cannot serve. | Long time. Such as saying 老於其事 (long experienced in the matter). | Hard. Colloquially, when things are not soft or tender, they are called 老. Simple and refined writing is also called 老當 (mature and capable). | Zhou's Li Er was called Laozi. He was the founder of Daoism. Hence the world calls Daoism 老. Such as saying 黃老 (Yellow Emperor and Laozi), 釋老 (Buddhism and Daoism), and such.

  • Onyomi

    tip

    roh(ロウ) ロウ

  • Kunyomi

    tip

    fu.keru(ふ-ける) ふ-ける

    o.iru(お-いる) お-いる

  • Strokes

    tip

    6 strokes

  • Radical

    tip

    老 耂 (oikammuri・oigashira・oi)

  • Related Keywords

    aged experienced venerable elderly lao tzu laozi retire to age old senior ancient mature seasoned advanced geriatric wisdom traditional

Sentences including 老

  • The old man asked me the time.

  • He was too old to swim.

  • Once there lived an old man in a village.

  • The old man looks sad.

  • The game took on among old people.

  • The old man had his only son die three years ago.

  • Old people need someone to talk to.

  • The old man passed away this morning.

  • The old man was not as mean as he looked.

  • The old man lived by himself.

Sentences from Japanese classical masterpieces

More kanji with the radical 老 耂 (oikammuri・oigashira・oi)

See all kanji with this radical →

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