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年老 (nián lǎo) — old (of a person), aged, advanced in years

Definition

年老 (niánlǎo) is a written/literary adjective-style verb meaning 'aged, advanced in years', typically used for people and often paired with 的. More formal and literary than the everyday 老.

verb
old (of a person)agedadvanced in years

Examples

  • 年老，。
    Tā de fù mǔ suī rán nián lǎo, dàn shēn tǐ hái hěn jiàn kāng.
    His parents are old in age, but still very healthy.
  • 年老。
    Xǔ duō nián lǎo de rén xǐ huan zài gōng yuán lǐ sàn bù.
    Many old people like to take walks in the park.
  • 年老，。
    Tā suī rán nián lǎo le, dàn jīng shén hěn hǎo.
    Although he is old, he is in good spirits.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
主谓zhǔwèiSubject + predicate

A small sentence frozen into a word: something, and what it does or is.

年niánage
老lǎoold

The sense is that the 年 is 老, meaning advanced in years.

Characters in this word

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
禾禾héwheat; grain
Sound part声符shēngfú
人
人rén年nián
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

年 pairs 禾 (grain) with 人, which gives the sound. Its original meaning was harvest, and it later came to mean a year.

Open 年 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

The shape 老 combines 人 (man), 毛 (hair), and 匕 (cane), showing a man with long hair leaning on a cane.

Open 老 →
Appears in
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