老 - OLD Man Walks with a Cane

Readings & Meanings:

お（いる）

ロウ

ふ（ける）

old

Common Usage:

老人(ホーム)

老いる

老ける

Examples:

「老人ホーム」という言葉は、今ではあまり聞かなくなった。

老いては子に従え、とは３０年くらい前までは女性の生き方と考えられていた。

彼はまだ４０代なのに苦労の多い人生のせいでとても老けて見える。

Translations:

You don't really hear the phrase "senior citizen's home" nowadays.

Until thirty years ago, it was thought that women should follow her children when she gets old.

He is still only 40, but hard times have made him look much older.

Radical:

This is its own radical!

Oikanmuri is used in a few rare kanji: 耄　耆　耋. Luckily, they all have to do with old age.

Important:

Don't get 老 and 考 confused. The first is an old man bent over with age. The second is an old man bent over with wisdom!

Bonus:

There were three precepts that women had to follow in the Edo period:

家にあっては父に従い、嫁しては夫に従い、老いては子に従う。

At home, follow your father; married, follow your husband; in old age, follow your children.

These are fading out, as of about thirty years ago, like in the above example sentence.

Second Bonus:

エビ, shrimp, has a great kanji combo: 海老. Shrimp really do look like old men, with their whiskers and their bent backs.


As found on Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/tyrian123/2120255316/

References:

http://www.kanjinetworks.com/indices/radindex.html
http://www.thejapanesepage.com/node/kanji/o.htm