姥 (lǎo) — maternal grandmother (colloquial, often in 姥姥)

Definition

Bound form for 'maternal grandmother,' almost always used twice as 姥姥 (lǎolao). The familiar everyday form in northern Chinese; 奶奶 is paternal grandmother.

bound form
maternal grandmother (colloquial, often in 姥姥)
Easily confused

Examples

  • 。
    Wǒ lǎo lǎo duì wǒ tè bié hǎo.
    My maternal grandmother is especially good to me.
  • 。
    lǎo lǎo Zuò de cài zuì hǎo chī le.
    Grandma's cooking is the most delicious.
  • 。
    Zhōu mò wǒ qù kàn lǎo lǎo.
    I'm going to visit Grandma this weekend.

Origin

Sound + meaning
六书liùshū
形声xíngshēng

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
女女nǚ
Sound part声符shēngfú
老
老lǎo姥
Same sound today

The left part 女 and the right part 老 form 姥; the 老 part gives the sound.

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