TongTong
Sign in

高龄 (gāo líng) — (noun) advanced age; elderly people; (adjective) elderly; of advanced age

Definition

高龄 is a formal term meaning 'advanced age' or 'elderly,' used as a set phrase before nouns (高龄产妇, 高龄老人). Unlike 老人 (general word for old people), 高龄 emphasizes the age itself and sounds more formal and written.

noun
advanced ageelderly people
adjective
elderlyof advanced age

Examples

  • 高龄。
    Zhè wèi gāo líng lǎo rén měi tiān jiān chí duàn liàn.
    This elderly person insists on exercising every day.
  • 高龄。
    gāo líng Xū yào gèng duō de yī liáo zhào gù.
    The elderly need more medical care.
  • 高龄，。
    Tā shì yí wèi gāo líng chǎn fù, xū yào tè bié zhù yì.
    She is an elderly mother and needs special attention.

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.

高gāohigh
龄língage

高 means high and 龄 means age, so together they describe an advanced age or elderly people.

Characters in this word

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

高 was drawn as a tall building.

Open 高 →

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 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Life Stages & Age

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.