老花 (lǎo huā) — presbyopia (age-related farsightedness)

Definition

Short for 老花眼, the age-related farsightedness that makes near objects (reading, phone) blurry. Usually appears after 40; treated with reading glasses (老花眼镜).

noun
presbyopia (age-related farsightedness)
Easily confused

Examples

  • 老花。
    Tā sì shí suì yǐ hòu jiù dé le lǎo huā.
    He developed presbyopia after age forty.
  • 老花。
    Mā ma xū yào pèi yí fù lǎo huā yǎn jìng.
    Mom needs to get a pair of reading glasses for presbyopia.
  • 老花。
    lǎo huā Shì lǎo nián rén cháng jiàn de shì lì wèn tí.
    Presbyopia is a common vision problem among older people.

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
花huāblurred

老花: 老 old and 花 blurred give age-related blur of vision.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
艹Written in full as艸cǎograss; plant
Sound part声符shēngfú
化
化huà花
Same sound today

花 pairs 艹 (grass; plant) with 化, which gives the sound.

Open 花 →

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