老
old (person/animal); always
lǎo
What does 老 mean?
老 (lǎo) is one of the most useful and slippery characters in Chinese. As an adjective it means 'old' — for people, animals, and friendships — but NOT for objects, which take 旧 (jiù) instead. So 老人 is 'an old person,' but an old shirt is 旧衣服, not 老衣服. As an adverb it means 'always / constantly,' usually with a complaining tone: 他老迟到 ('he's always late').
As a prefix, 老 attaches to surnames and titles to show familiarity or respect — 老王 ('old Wang,' a friendly way to address a male friend), 老师 (teacher, literally 'old master'), 老板 (boss). It also fronts the names of animals in casual speech: 老鼠 (mouse), 老虎 (tiger). The opposite for living things is 年轻
Character breakdown
old; venerable; long-time
Memory hook: 老 pictures an old person leaning on a cane — long hair on top, a bent back below.
Example sentences
他是我的老朋友。
Tā shì wǒ de lǎo péngyou.
He's an old friend of mine.
neutral
这只狗很老了。
Zhè zhī gǒu hěn lǎo le.
This dog is very old.
spoken
你怎么老迟到？
Nǐ zěnme lǎo chídào?
Why are you always late?
spoken
老人需要我们的帮助。
Lǎorén xūyào wǒmen de bāngzhù.
Old people need our help.
neutral