老脸 (lǎo liǎn) — (stative verb) shameless; brazen

Definition

老脸 (lǎoliǎn) is an informal adjective meaning 'shameless / brazen' — used to criticize someone's behavior, not literally about an old face. Colloquial and stronger than 厚脸皮.

adjective
(stative verb) shamelessbrazen

Examples

  • 老脸，。
    Tā zhè me lǎo liǎn, hái gǎn zài bié rén jiā shuō zhè zhǒng huà.
    He is so shameless that he dares to say such things at someone else's house.
  • 老脸，。
    Nǐ zhè yàng zuò tài lǎo liǎn le, lián jī běn de zūn zhòng dōu bù dǒng.
    What you did was so brazen — you don't even understand basic respect.
  • 老脸，。
    Tā lǎo liǎn dì kāi kǒu yào qián, ràng dà jiā dōu hěn nán kān.
    She brazenly asked for money, which made everyone very embarrassed.

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lǎoaged
脸liǎnface

老 suggests an aged or hardened face, and 脸 names the face, giving meanings like old prestige or brazenness.

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 →

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 臉; 脸 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
⺼Written in full as肉ròubody part
Sound part声符shēngfú
僉
僉qiān臉liǎn
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 臉 combines ⺼ (肉, body part) with 僉 as a sound part; the simplified 脸 is a later abbreviation.

Open 脸 →

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