老 lǎo▶ tua

Stroke order

老 is written in 6 strokes.

• 老

Senses

1. prefix used before the surname of a person or a numeral indicating the order of birth of the children in a family or to indicate affection or familiarity
2. old (of people)
3. venerable (person)
4. experienced
5. of long standing
6. always
7. all the time
8. of the past
9. very
10. outdated
11. (of meat etc) tough

Example sentences

• 我的爷爷已经很老了。Wǒ de yéye yǐjīng hěn lǎo le.My grandfather is already very old.
• 他是我的老朋友。Tā shì wǒ de lǎo péngyou.He is an old friend of mine.

Related words

• 老虎Harimau
• 老婆istri
• 老实jujur
• 老师guru
• 老板Bos
• 老鼠Tikus

老 is pronounced lǎo and means “tua”. HSK 3 is where this word sits in the Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi, the exam used to grade Chinese proficiency. Reading 老 and remembering it are not the same achievement: the first fades within days unless the second is practised. LexiTrail times each review to the edge of forgetting, which is where a repetition is worth the most.