TongTong
Sign in

老人 (lǎo rén) — elderly person; the elderly; (formal) one's aged parents or grandparents

Definition

Generic everyday word for 'elderly person / old man or woman' (singular or collective). Unlike 长辈 (which means elders in a family hierarchy), 老人 refers to age, not family rank.

noun
elderly personthe elderly(formal) one's aged parents or grandparents
Measure word · 个
Easily confused

Examples

  • 老人。
    Zhè wèi lǎo rén zǎo shàng xǐ huan qù gōng yuán yùn dòng.
    This elderly person likes to go to the park to exercise in the morning.
  • 老人，。
    Wǒ jiā de lǎo rén shēn tǐ hěn hǎo, měi tiān dōu zì jǐ zuò fàn.
    The elderly person in my family is in good health and cooks for themselves every day.
  • 老人。
    Wǒ men yào lǎo rén guān xīn tā men zuò xū yào.
    We should care for the elderly; they need help.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

老lǎoold
人rénperson

The 老 means old and 人 means person, so together they refer to an elderly person.

Characters in this word

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 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 人 shows a side view of a standing person, with an arm and a leg.

Open 人 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 3Life Stages & Age5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

Browse more HSK 3 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.