Chinese symbol for “elder”
长老
zhǎng lǎo
Traditional: 長老
elder; term of respect for a Buddhist monk
The closest CC-CEDICT match for elder is 长老 (zhǎng lǎo), defined as: elder; term of respect for a Buddhist monk.
Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.
Characters and stroke order
Traditional forms
Other Chinese words for “elder”
Related words
Other words that share a character with 长老.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 增长 (增長) | zēng zhǎng | to grow; to increase |
| 长期 (長期) | cháng qī | long-term; for a protracted period |
| 部长 (部長) | bù zhǎng | head of a (government etc) department; section chief |
| 成长 (成長) | chéng zhǎng | to mature; to grow |
| 市长 (市長) | shì zhǎng | mayor |
| 家长 (家長) | jiā zhǎng | head of a household; family head |
| 老师 (老師) | lǎo shī | teacher |
| 老婆 | lǎo pó | (coll.) wife |
See also: Japanese symbol for “elder”.
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.