Pictographic: A person bent over with long hair 匕 and a crutch; compare 耂Radical:

meaning for lǎo:

  • - prefix used before the surname of a person or a numeral indicating the order of birth of the children in a family or to indicate affection or familiarity
  • - old (of people)
  • - venerable (person)
  • - experienced
  • - of long standing
  • - always
  • - all the time
  • - of the past
  • - very
  • - outdated
  • - (of meat etc) tough
  • - unicode compatibility variant of 老 teacher
  • - Classifiers: 个 old man or woman
  • - the elderly
  • - one's aged parents or grandparentsRobam (brand)boss
  • - business proprietor
  • - Classifiers: 个 ordinary people
  • - the "person in the street"
  • - Classifiers: 个

hěn
shěbùde舍不得
ràng
gōngsī公司
de
nàge那个
lǎo
yuángōng员工
líkāi离开
yīnwèi因为
zài
gōngsī公司
yǒu
hěndà很大
de
gòngxiàn贡献

He was very loath to let the old employee leave the company as he made a great contribution.


lǎo
yīshēng医生
yìyǎn一眼
jiù
zhěnduàn诊断
chū
le
de
bìngqíng病情

The experienced doctor diagnosed his illness at a glance.


yīn
zīgé资格
lǎo
ér
dāngxuǎn当选
zhǔxí主席

He was elected chairman by virtue of his seniority.


kǎlìgǔlā卡利古拉
de
tuīlùn推论
huòbùsī霍布斯
lǎo
xiù
de
bùmóuérhé不谋而合

The reasoning of Caligula agrees with that of Hobbes and Grotius.