老
老 — Old man
old man, old age, grow old
On’yomiロウ (rou)
Kun’yomiおいる (oiru)
Kun’yomiふける (fukeru)
Stroke order (6 strokes)
Watch the strokes draw themselves in the correct order — numbers mark where each stroke starts. Diagram from KanjiVG (CC BY-SA).
Common words using 老
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 老人 | ろうじん roujin | old person; senior citizen; the aged |
| 老人ホーム | ろうじんホーム roujinho-mu | retirement home; old people's home; senior citizens' home |
| 老後 | ろうご rougo | old age |
| 長老 | ちょうろう chourou | elder; senior; senior monk |
| 老衰 | ろうすい rousui | senility; senile decay; infirmity (through age) |
| 老朽 | ろうきゅう roukyuu | infirmity (due to old age); decrepitude; senility |
Study notes
老 is a JLPT N3 kanji written with 6 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 4), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #803 of the 2,500 most frequent kanji in newspapers. On’yomi (音読み) are Chinese-derived readings mostly used in compound words; kun’yomi (訓読み) are native Japanese readings, with any highlighted part written in hiragana after the kanji (okurigana).
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