Kanji Study

Bushu (Radical) Info:
老 (ロウ, お.いる, ふ.ける, えび, おい, び) – old man; old age; grow old
考 (コウ, かんが,.える, かんが,.え, たか) – consider; think over

Henshall Mnemonic: old man falls, ready for burying in ground

Levels: JLPT N3 | JLPT 2 (old) | Grade 4
Frequency: #803 of the 2500 most used kanji in newspapers

Common Words and/or Phrases Using this Kanji:

Click any individual kanji to view a similar information sheet for it.
Click [K] to look up the word's individual character(s) at WWWJDIC.
Click [D] to look up the word at WWWJDIC (definition is the same but other useful features exist).
Click [Jisho] to look up the word at Jisho.org.

JLPT N3 Words

• 老い   [おい]
  (n) old age; old person; the old; the aged   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 老人   [ろうじん]
  (n) the aged; old person   [K] [D] [Jisho]

JLPT N1 Words

• 老いる   [おいる]
  (v1) to age; to grow old   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 老ける   [ふける]
  (v1) to age   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 老衰   [ろうすい]
  (n) senility; senile decay   [K] [D] [Jisho]

Other Popular Words Not Classified by JLPT

• 老   [ろう]
  (n) old age; age; old people; the old; the aged   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 老化   [ろうか]
  (n,vs) ageing; senile deterioration   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 老眼   [ろうがん]
  (n) presbyopia; long-sighted   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 老朽   [ろうきゅう]
  (n) superannuated; decrepitude   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 老後   [ろうご]
  (n) old age   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 老子   [ろうし]
  Lao-tse; Lao-tzu   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 老若   [ろうじゃく]
  (n,adj-na) (1) young and old; all ages   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 老若   [ろうにゃく]
  (n,adj-na) (1) young and old; all ages   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 老女   [ろうじょ]
  (n) elderly woman; senior lady-in-waiting   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 老人ホーム   [ろうじんホーム]
  (n) senior citizens' home   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 老人性   [ろうじんせい]
  (adj-na) senile   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 養老   [ようろう]
  (n) making provision for the elderly   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 養老院   [ようろういん]
  (n) home for the aged; old people's home   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 老年   [ろうねん]
  (n) old age   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 老婆   [ろうば]
  (n) old woman   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 老夫婦   [ろうふうふ]
  (n) an old couple   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 老婦   [ろうふ]
  (n) old woman   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 老舗   [しにせ]
  (n) old shop; shop of long standing   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 老舗   [ろうほ]
  (n) old shop; shop of long standing   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 初老   [しょろう]
  (n) middle-aged; aging; age 40   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 老齢   [ろうれい]
  (n) advanced age; senility   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 長老   [ちょうろう]
  (n) eldest; senior   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 敬老   [けいろう]
  (n) respect for the aged   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 元老   [げんろう]
  (n) elder statesman; authority   [K] [D] [Jisho]

Find more details for 老 at jisho.org, Yookoso! or WWWJDIC

Acknowledgments

The sofware used to generate this kanji information uses the EDICT and KANJIDIC files. These files are the property of the Electronic Dictionary Research and Development Group at Monash University and are used in conformance with the Group's license.

NOTE: I converted the sources just mentioned years ago and have never really updated so there may be some missing or incorrect information that has been addressed in the original sources but not here.

The first Stroke Order image used on this page is courtesy of Ulrich Apel's excellent open source KanjiVG project. The second image is from the folks at the excellent Jisho Japanese-English dictionary site and it too is based on KanjiVG.

Classifying the kanji and popular vocabulary by the new JLPT levels was done by consulting Jonathan Waller‘s JLPT Resources page, renshuu, Wictionary, and Nihongo Ichiban.

The Henshall Mnemonics are the copyright of Tuttle Publishing and are the result of the hard work by Professor Henshall. See the list I used here.

If you are curious about the lexicography shown in the word definitions, visit the WWWJDIC abbreviations and codes guide and the JMdict/Edict Lexicographical details page.