老百姓
Written lǎo bǎi xìng, said láo bǎi xìng — a third tone before another third tone is said as a second.
Meaning
- ordinary people
- the "person in the street"
Measure word
个 gè
Example sentence
许多老百姓加入了军队。
A great number of citizens went into the army.
Characters in 老百姓
- 老 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
- 百 bǎi hundred
- 姓 xìng family name; surname
老 here a familiar prefix plus 百姓, the hundred surnames. The common people, named by the idea that everyone has one of a hundred family names.