HSK 5 · Work

老板 lǎobǎn “boss” in Chinese

Said as láobǎn

Traditional 老闆

What 老板 means

  1. boss
  2. shopkeeper
  3. proprietor
  4. Robam (brand)

How to say 老板

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale老lǎo3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale板bǎn3rd tone, dipping

Said as láobǎn. When two third tones meet, the first one rises into a second tone. You still write it with two third tones. How tone changes work

老板 in a sentence

  1. 老板对你的工作有很高的评价。

    Lǎobǎn duì nǐ de gōngzuò yǒu hěn gāo de píngjià.

    The boss thinks very highly of your work.

    Sentence #346460 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 我喜欢做自己的老板。

    Wǒ xǐhuan zuò zìjǐ de lǎobǎn.

    I like being my own boss.

    Sentence #3586059 from Tatoeba

  3. 你跟老板合得来吗？

    Nǐ gēn lǎobǎn hédelái ma?

    Do you get on with your boss?

    Sentence #336622 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 老板 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 老 (lǎo) with each of its parts in a different colour
老lǎoprefix used before the surname of
  • 耂old form of 老 · lǎo
  • 匕spoon · bǐ

Memory aidDrawn from an old person with long hair and a walking stick.

The character 板 (bǎn) with each of its parts in a different colour
板bǎnboard
  • 木tree · mùMeaning part
  • 反reverse · fǎnSound part

木 hints at the meaning (tree); 反 (fǎn) hints at the sound. Compare it with bǎn.

How to write 老板

老 6 strokes · 板 8 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

老板 (lǎobǎn) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 老板 (lǎobǎn). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 老板

Words with 老

老师lǎoshī · teacher老lǎo · old老人lǎorén · old person老虎lǎohǔ · tiger老婆lǎopo · wife (informal)老实lǎoshi · honest老鼠lǎoshǔ · rat老百姓lǎobǎixìng · ordinary people衰老shuāilǎo · to grow old

Words with 板

黑板hēibǎn · blackboard

More words: Work & Career

结账jiézhàng · to pay the bill经营jīngyíng · to run (a business)开发kāifā · to develop劳动láodòng · work利益lìyì · benefit领导lǐngdǎo · leader秘书mìshū · secretary名片míngpiàn · (business) card

FAQs

老板 (lǎobǎn) means “boss” or “shopkeeper”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it lǎobǎn: lǎo with a 3rd tone, then bǎn with a 3rd tone. In speech it sounds like láobǎn. When two third tones meet, the first one rises into a second tone. You still write it with two third tones. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 老板 is written 老闆. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type laoban with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 老板 from the suggestions. Typing laoban into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
老板 is an HSK 5 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.