lǎo wú lǎo , yǐ jí rén zhī lǎo , yòu wú yòu , yǐ jí rén zhī yòudictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
to honor old people as we do our own aged parents, and care for other's children as one's own
Sources & editorial notes

Reference definitions: CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source release 2026-10-27T01:55:52Z. Imported 2026-10-27. Definition wording and meaning order are retained. Recognized pronunciation references are displayed with tone marks; the original source record is available below.

Source record: cd-5365c6077a7e13b1. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

老吾老,以及人之老,幼吾幼,以及人之幼 老吾老,以及人之老,幼吾幼,以及人之幼 [lao3 wu2 lao3 , yi3 ji2 ren2 zhi1 lao3 , you4 wu2 you4 , yi3 ji2 ren2 zhi1 you4] /to honor old people as we do our own aged parents, and care for other's children as one's own/

Reference definitions and teaching material have separate provenance.

Reference information

The definitions above are from CC-CEDICT. Examples and usage notes are available on selected entries.

Character information

View the individual characters. Their meanings do not necessarily explain the meaning of the whole word.

  • 老
    lǎo

    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/ old (of people) / venerable (person) / experienced / of long standing / always / all the time / of the past / very / outdated / (of meat etc) tough

  • 吾
    wú

    (old) I / my

    Wú

    surname Wu

  • 老
    lǎo

    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/ old (of people) / venerable (person) / experienced / of long standing / always / all the time / of the past / very / outdated / (of meat etc) tough

  • 以
    yǐ

    to use / by means of / according to / in order to / because of / at (a certain date or place)

    Yǐ

    abbr. for Israel 以色列[Yǐ sè liè]

  • 及
    jí

    and / to reach / up to / in time for

  • 人
  • 之
    zhī

    (possessive particle, literary equivalent of 的[de]) / him / her / it

  • 老
    lǎo

    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

  • 幼
    yòu

    young

  • 吾
    wú

    (old) I / my

    Wú

    surname Wu

  • 幼
    yòu

    young

  • 以
    yǐ

    to use / by means of / according to / in order to / because of / at (a certain date or place)

    Yǐ

    abbr. for Israel 以色列[Yǐ sè liè]

  • 及
    jí

    and / to reach / up to / in time for

  • 人
  • 之
    zhī

    (possessive particle, literary equivalent of 的[de]) / him / her / it

  • 幼
    yòu

    young

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.