大龄 (dà líng) — older age (past the typical marriageable age)

Definition

A modern Chinese term for someone past the typical age for marriage or having children, but still single or childless — not just 'old'. Often used with 青年 or 未婚.

noun
older age (past the typical marriageable age)

Examples

  • 大龄。
    Xiàn zài yǒu hěn duō dà líng qīng nián xuǎn zé bù jié hūn.
    Nowadays many older single young people choose not to get married.
  • 大龄。
    Shè huì duì dà líng nǚ xìng de yā lì gèng dà.
    Society puts more pressure on older single women.
  • ，大龄。
    Tā sān shí duō suì hái shì dān shēn, shǔ yú dà líng wèi hūn rén qún.
    He's over thirty and still single, belonging to the older unmarried demographic.

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.

大dàbig
龄língage

大 “big” and 龄 “age” denote an age that is considered large or past the usual marriageable age.

Characters in this word

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

The form 大 is a picture of a person standing and facing forward, not of someone stretching their arms.

Open 大 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 齡; 龄 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
齒齒chǐtooth
Sound part声符shēngfú
令
令lìng齡líng
Same sound today

The traditional form 齡 shows 齒, a tooth, associated with age, and 令 for the sound; simplified 龄 is a later shorthand.

Open 龄 →

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