Meaning & readings
old man, old age, grow old
On’yomi ロウ
Kun’yomi お.いる、ふ.ける
Nanori えび、おい、び
Origin
This character combines two elements to depict the concept of old age. The top component 耂 represents hair, and the bottom component 匕 (a spoon or bent object) suggests a bent or stooped posture. Together, they paint a picture of an elderly person—someone with white or graying hair whose body has become bent and curved with age. The visual combination of these two features was a natural way for ancient Chinese writers to capture the idea of aging and an old person.
AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).
Components
- 耂
- 匕
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 6
- Kangxi radical
- 125
- Grade
- Grade 4 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #803 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+08001