How to Write 咾 (lǎo) — Meaning “a particle”

Picture an old person (老) using their mouth (口) to call pigs with a 'lǎo lǎo' sound. This combines the two parts into a funny image: the mouth of an old farmer making the pig-calling noise. The sound 'lǎo' itself is like calling 'lao lao' to get pigs' attention.

Start with the left 口 (three strokes: vertical, horizontal fold, horizontal). Then write 老 on the right: first horizontal, vertical, horizontal, left-falling, left-falling, vertical-hook (6 strokes, total 9). A common mistake is making the 老 too wide or the 口 too big; keep the left part small and the right part balanced, and do not forget the hook in 老.

咾 has 口 on the left and 老 on the right (meaning a sound particle), while 君 has 尹 on top with 口 below (meaning ruler or gentleman), and 吝 has 文 on top with 口 below (meaning stingy). Visually, 咾's right side is 老 (with a hook), whereas 君 and 吝 have different tops. In usage, 咾 is rare and onomatopoeic, while 君 and 吝 are common in formal Chinese.

咾 is not common in standard Mandarin; it appears mostly in regional dialects and onomatopoeia. The word 咾咾 (lǎo lǎo) is used to call pigs in rural areas, and 呼咾 (hū lǎo) means to wheeze or pant. It is rarely seen in writing, so learners may only encounter it in dialect studies or old texts about pig farming.

Common words containing 咾 include: 咾咾 (lǎo lǎo) — sound of calling pigs; 呼咾 (hū lǎo) — to wheeze / to pant; 咾咕 (lǎo gū) — coral stone.