boss / sir (person with a leading role in an organization) / (after a surname) high ranking commander in the PLA / (Qing dynasty) high ranking government official / (old) courteous term used by the general populace in addressing a rank-and-file soldier or police officer
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Results for “老”
435 results
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Exact character matches appear first. For otherwise comparable matches, frequency in film and television subtitles helps determine order. Direct English-definition matches and prefix matches also affect ranking. Word length and the availability of usage notes do not improve rank.
Frequency data: Cai & Brysbaert, SUBTLEX-CH (2010), Creative Commons Attribution. The data includes word forms with at least 10 occurrences in an older subtitle sample. It does not provide current frequency or HSK levels. Absence from the sample does not establish that a word is rare. Names, variants and restricted readings identified in the source appear after general-use entries within the same match type.
lit. old general / commander-in-chief 將帥|将帅, the equivalent of king in Chinese chess / fig. old-timer / veteran
vise / pincer pliers
older female servant / amah
old man / husband's father / father-in-law / court eunuch
(coll.) foreigner (esp. non Asian person) / layman / amateur
no longer a child (idiom)
mature / experienced / sophisticated
older generation
experienced and careful
female brothel keeper
uncle (polite form of address for older male)
decrepit and behind the times / old / useless / (humble) I / me (used by the elderly)
old man / elderly man
self-respect of old person / face / thick-skinned (i.e. impervious to criticism) / brazen
the old and the young
(fig.) old fox / a wily, shrewd person
to play the same old tune (idiom) / unoriginal
pharaoh (loanword)
(idiom) to live forever and never grow old
to provide for the elderly (family members) / to enjoy a life in retirement
aged
tigress / (fig.) fierce woman / vixen
to go back to one's roots / to return to one's native place / by ext. to join one's ancestors (i.e. to die)
men, women, young and old / all kinds of people / people of all ages
(lit.) to be born, to grow old, to get sick and to die (idiom) / (fig.) the fate of humankind (i.e. mortality)
uncouth fellow / rustic
old / aged / (of calligraphy or painting) vigorous / forceful
solitary old man or woman / regular patron (at brothels)
sir (respectful form of address for an old man)
(coll.) father-in-law (wife's father)
(coll.) wife's mother / mother-in-law
Lao San Pian, three short essays written by Mao Zedong before the PRC was established
the three plain colors used for clothing in the PRC in the 1960s: black, gray and blue
(derog.) old but still alive / old fart / old bastard
(slang) Chinese people / we Chinese (often self-referential, ironic) / China / the Chinese side
(coll.) youngest child
nursing home / old people's home
grandpa (polite form of address for old man)
erhua variant of 老伴[]
Definitions from CC-CEDICT · 125,326 source records · Release 2026-10-27