老掉牙
lǎo diào yá
Pinyin

Definition

老掉牙
 - 
lǎo diào yá
  1. very old
  2. obsolete
  3. out of date

Character Decomposition

Related Words (20)

掉
diào
  1. 1 to fall
  2. 2 to drop
  3. 3 to lag behind
  4. 4 to lose
  5. 5 to go missing
  6. 6 to reduce
  7. 7 fall (in prices)
  8. 8 to lose (value, weight etc)
  9. 9 to wag
  10. 10 to swing
  11. 11 to turn
  12. 12 to change
  13. 13 to exchange
  14. 14 to swap
  15. 15 to show off
  16. 16 to shed (hair)
  17. 17 (used after certain verbs to express completion, fulfillment, removal etc)
老
lǎo
  1. 1 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
  2. 2 old (of people)
  3. 3 venerable (person)
  4. 4 experienced
  5. 5 of long standing
  6. 6 always
  7. 7 all the time
  8. 8 of the past
  9. 9 very
  10. 10 outdated
  11. 11 (of meat etc) tough
老公
lǎo gōng
  1. 1 (coll.) husband
老婆
lǎo pó
  1. 1 (coll.) wife
老妈
lǎo mā
  1. 1 mother
  2. 2 mom
老子
Lǎo zǐ
  1. 1 Laozi or Lao-tze (c. 500 BC), Chinese philosopher, the founder of Taoism
  2. 2 the sacred book of Daoism, 道德經|道德经 by Laozi
老家
lǎo jiā
  1. 1 native place
  2. 2 place of origin
  3. 3 home state or region
老师
lǎo shī
  1. 1 teacher
  2. 2 CL:個|个[gè],位[wèi]
老板
lǎo bǎn
  1. 1 variant of 老闆|老板[lǎo bǎn]
老爸
lǎo bà
  1. 1 father
  2. 2 dad
丢掉
diū diào
  1. 1 to lose
  2. 2 to throw away
  3. 3 to discard
  4. 4 to cast away
偕老
xié lǎo
  1. 1 to grow old together
删掉
shān diào
  1. 1 to delete
刷牙
shuā yá
  1. 1 to brush one's teeth
剪掉
jiǎn diào
  1. 1 to cut off
  2. 2 to cut away
  3. 3 to trim
去掉
qù diào
  1. 1 to get rid of
  2. 2 to exclude
  3. 3 to eliminate
  4. 4 to remove
  5. 5 to delete
  6. 6 to strip out
  7. 7 to extract
古老
gǔ lǎo
  1. 1 ancient
  2. 2 old
  3. 3 age-old
吃掉
chī diào
  1. 1 to eat up
  2. 2 to consume
咬牙
yǎo yá
  1. 1 to clench one's teeth
  2. 2 to grind the teeth
  3. 3 gnaw
回老家
huí lǎo jiā
  1. 1 to go back to one's roots
  2. 2 to return to one's native place
  3. 3 by ext. to join one's ancestors (i.e. to die)

Idioms (20)

一粒老鼠屎坏了一锅粥
yī lì lǎo shǔ shǐ huài le yī guō zhōu
  1. 1 lit. a piece of rat feces spoiled the whole pot of congee (idiom)
  2. 2 fig. one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch
一颗老鼠屎坏了一锅汤
yī kē lǎo shǔ shǐ huài le yī guō tāng
  1. 1 lit. a piece of rat feces spoiled the whole pot of soup (idiom)
  2. 2 fig. one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch
上有老下有小
shàng yǒu lǎo xià yǒu xiǎo
  1. 1 lit. above are the elderly, below are the young (idiom)
  2. 2 fig. to have to take care of both one's aging parents and one's children
  3. 3 sandwich generation
不听老人言，吃亏在眼前
bù tīng lǎo rén yán , chī kuī zài yǎn qián
  1. 1 (idiom) ignore your elders at your peril
以眼还眼，以牙还牙
yǐ yǎn huán yǎn , yǐ yá huán yá
  1. 1 an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth (idiom)
  2. 2 fig. to use the enemy's methods against him
  3. 3 to give sb a taste of his own medicine
伶牙俐齿
líng yá lì chǐ
  1. 1 clever and eloquent (idiom); fluent
  2. 2 having the gift of the gab
咬牙切齿
yǎo yá qiè chǐ
  1. 1 gnashing one's teeth (idiom); displaying extreme anger
  2. 2 fuming with rage between gritted teeth
咬紧牙关
yǎo jǐn yá guān
  1. 1 lit. to bite the teeth tightly (idiom); fig. to grit one's teeth and bear the pain
  2. 2 to bite the bullet
天上不会掉馅饼
tiān shàng bù huì diào xiàn bǐng
  1. 1 there is no such thing as a free lunch (idiom)
天上掉馅饼
tiān shàng diào xiàn bǐng
  1. 1 a meat pie falls from the sky (idiom)
  2. 2 to have something fall into your lap
天荒地老
tiān huāng dì lǎo
  1. 1 until the end of time (idiom)
宝刀不老
bǎo dāo bù lǎo
  1. 1 lit. a good sword always remains sharp (idiom)
  2. 2 fig. (of one's skills etc) to be as good as ever
  3. 3 the old man still has it
宝刀未老
bǎo dāo wèi lǎo
  1. 1 treasure knife does not age (idiom); old but still vigorous
尾大不掉
wěi dà bù diào
  1. 1 large tail obstructs action (idiom); bottom heavy
  2. 2 fig. rendered ineffective by subordinates
年老力衰
nián lǎo lì shuāi
  1. 1 old and weak (idiom)
年老体弱
nián lǎo tǐ ruò
  1. 1 old and weak (idiom)
张牙舞爪
zhāng yá wǔ zhǎo
  1. 1 to bare fangs and brandish claws (idiom); to make threatening gestures
拾人牙慧
shí rén yá huì
  1. 1 to pick up what others say (idiom); to pass off other people's opinions as one's own
  2. 2 to parrot
掉书袋
diào shū dài
  1. 1 lit. to wave around one's bookbag (idiom)
  2. 2 fig. to show off one's erudition
  3. 3 a person who does so
敬老尊贤
jìng lǎo zūn xián
  1. 1 to respect the wise and venerate the worthy (idiom); to honor the great and the good

Sample Sentences

嗯，老掉牙啦，您怎么不说几个特别的，那些我从来没听说过的，还能去朋友那儿显摆显摆，顺便装个逼。
ng4 ，lǎodiàoyá la ，nín zěnme bù shuō jǐ ge tèbié de ，nàxiē wǒ cónglái méi tīngshuō guò de ，hái néng qù péngyou nàr xiǎnbai xiǎnbai ，shùnbiàn zhuānggebī 。
Hmph, what a cliché. Why didn't you mention a few more interesting scientists? Those that I've never heard of, so that I can go and show off to my friends and pretend to be all knowledgeable.
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