字の旅3,000 years in four forms
Oracle bone · ShangShang · c. 1200 BCE後2.35.2 (商)
Oracle bone, bronze and small seal: Academia Sinica 小學堂, CC0. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
部首Radical · in Human Body & People
老 old, old-age
おいかんむり oikanmuri
6 strokesRadical of 3 kanjiPart of 4
Origin · sourced
Ideogrammic compound會意
A man with long hair (an old man), leaning on a cane.
Built from 人 “man” + 毛 “hair” + 匕 “cane”
Source: Wiktionary, 老 (rev. 93751489), CC BY-SA 4.0
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Respect your elders! This radical is the symbol of wisdom, long life, and the authority that comes with age. When you see it at the top of a kanji, imagine a wise old teacher or a grandparent looking down with experience. It brings a sense of tradition and the weight of many years to any character it joins.”
Where it sits in a kanji
Indicates old age, wisdom, long experience, physical aging, or the concept of thinking and consideration (as elders are often sought for advice).
What it grows into
- 考considerコウ · かんがえる
老 + 丂
Variant of 老 – Ideogrammic compound (會意): 耂 (“an old man with long hair, bent over”) + 丂 (“a walking cane”) originally drawn as 匕 – an old man, leaning on a cane.
Ideogrammic compound · Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0
Every kanji with 老 as its radical
All 3 kanji