Translingual

Han character

佬 (radical 9 人+6, 8 strokes, cangjie input 人十大心 (OJKP), four-corner 2421₁, composition ⿰亻老)

References

• KangXi: page 100, character 9
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 548
• Dae Jaweon: page 212, character 5
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 144, character 2
• Unihan data for U+4F6C

Chinese

Glyph origin

Phono-semantic compound (形聲) : semantic 亻 + phonetic 老 ‎(OC *ruːʔ).

Etymology

Found in certain southern dialects (chiefly Cantonese) as the colloquial word for “man” (for example, in the term 福佬). Probably related to Zhuang raeuz ~ laeuz ‎(“we; also a demonym: Rau peoples”), a widespread Tai word meaning “we; people” (Proto-Tai *rawᴬ).

Guangdong Xinyu [1678] has the following passage:

廣州謂平人曰佬，亦曰獠，賤稱也。

People in Guangzhou call “common people” lau or leu (derogatory).

Also compare Proto-Hmong *ʔljuwᴮ ‎(“male”) (White Hmong lau ‎(“male”)), Proto-Katuic *-law (“man”), as well as Lao ລາວ ‎(lāo, “Lao < people”), Thai ลาว ‎(laao).

Pronunciation

Noun

佬

1. (chiefly Cantonese, dialectal Wu) man; person; guy; fellow; chap
2. (chiefly Cantonese) vulgar person; hillbilly

   鄉巴佬 / 乡巴佬  ―  xiāngbālǎo  ―  hick; villager

Usage notes

Mainly used as a colloquial suffix to denote “-er”.

Compounds

Japanese

Kanji

(uncommon “Hyōgai” kanji)

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Readings

• On: りょう (ryō), ろ (ro), ろう (rō)
• Kun: おおきい (ōkii)

Vietnamese

Han character

佬 (lão)

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References

• Nom Foundation