老年人 (lǎo nián rén) — elderly people; the aged

Definition

noun

elderly peoplethe aged

Measure word · 个

老年人。
Shè qū wèi lǎo nián rén tí gōng le miǎn fèi tǐ jiǎn fú wù.
The community provides free health check-ups for the elderly.
老年人、，。
lǎo nián rén Zài gōng yuán lǐ xià qí, liáo tiān, shēng huó hěn yōu xián.
The elderly play chess and chat in the park; their life is very leisurely.
老年人。
Wǒ men yīng gāi duō guān xīn lǎo nián rén de shēn xīn jiàn kāng.
We should care more about the physical and mental health of the elderly.

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.

老年old age

偏正Modifier + head

老年 'old age' + 人 'person' gives a person in old age.

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.

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.

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.

Appears in