HSK 4 · Objects

老虎 lǎohǔ “tiger” in Chinese

Said as láohǔ

Same in Traditional

What 老虎 means

  1. tiger

Measure word 只 zhī · 一只老虎 yì zhī lǎohǔ

How to say 老虎

  • 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虎hǔ3rd tone, dipping

Said as láohǔ. 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

老虎 in a sentence

  1. 老虎吃什么东西？

    Lǎohǔ chī shénme dōngxi?

    What do tigers eat?

    Sentence #7774824 from Tatoeba

  2. 老虎是一种非常凶猛的动物。

    Lǎohǔ shì yì zhǒng fēicháng xiōngměng de dòngwù.

    A tiger is a very ferocious kind of animal.

    Sentence #789713 from Tatoeba

  3. 一只老虎逃出了动物园。

    Yì zhī lǎohǔ táo chū le dòngwùyuán.

    A tiger has escaped from the zoo.

    Sentence #6900935 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

How 老虎 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 虎 (hǔ) with each of its parts in a different colour
虎hǔtiger
  • 虍tiger · hū
  • 几table · jī

How to write 老虎

老 6 strokes · 虎 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 老虎

Words with 老

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

Words with 虎

马虎mǎhu · careless狼吞虎咽lángtūnhǔyàn · to wolf down (food)

More words: Everyday Things

家具jiājù · furniture镜子jìngzi · mirror距离jùlí · distance垃圾桶lājītǒng · rubbish bin毛巾máojīn · towel目的mùdì · purpose内容nèiróng · content脾气píqi · temper

FAQs

老虎 (lǎohǔ) means “tiger”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it lǎohǔ: lǎo with a 3rd tone, then hǔ with a 3rd tone. In speech it sounds like láohǔ. 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.
Yes. 老虎 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Use 只 (zhī). For example, one tiger is 一只老虎 (yì zhī lǎohǔ).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type laohu with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 老虎 from the suggestions. Typing laohu into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
老虎 is an HSK 4 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.