老佛爺

See also: 老佛爷

Chinese

		old; aged; venerable old; aged; venerable; outdated; experienced; (affectionate prefix)	Buddha
trad. (老佛爺)		老	佛爺
simp. (老佛爷)		老	佛爷
Literally: “Venerable Lord Buddha”.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): lǎofóyé

  (Zhuyin): ㄌㄠˇ ㄈㄛˊ ㄧㄝˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): lou⁵ fat⁶ je⁴

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: lǎofóyé → lǎofóye (toneless final syllable variant)
    • Zhuyin: ㄌㄠˇ ㄈㄛˊ ㄧㄝˊ → ㄌㄠˇ ㄈㄛˊ ˙ㄧㄝ (toneless final syllable variant)
    • Tongyong Pinyin: lǎofóye̊
    • Wade–Giles: lao³-fo²-yeh⁵
    • Yale: lǎu-fwó-ye
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: laofor.ye
    • Palladius: лаофое (laofoje)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /lɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ fu̯ɔ³⁵ jɛ³⁵/ → /lɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ fu̯ɔ³⁵ jɛ³/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: lou⁵ fat⁶ je⁴
    • Yale: lóuh faht yèh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: lou⁵ fat⁹ je⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: lou⁵ fed⁶ yé⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /lou̯¹³ fɐt̚² jɛː²¹/

Etymology 1

Noun

老佛爺

1. (archaic) A term of address and title for an empress dowager, queen dowager, empress mother, queen mother, or the like.

   奴才給老佛爺請安。 [MSC, trad.]
   奴才给老佛爷请安。 [MSC, simp.]

   Núcái gěi lǎofóyé qǐng'ān. [Pinyin]

   We [do hereby] pay respect to Your Majesty.

2. (Buddhism, informal) Buddha

Proper noun

老佛爺

1. (late Qing) A title of respect for Empress Dowager Cixi.

Etymology 2

Phono-semantic matching of French Lafayette.

Proper noun

老佛爺

1. (usually used in compounds) Lafayette; La Fayette

   老佛爺大街／老佛爷大街  ―  Lǎofóyé Dàjiē  ―  Rue La Fayette

   老佛爺百货／老佛爷百货  ―  Lǎofóyé Bǎihuò  ―  Galeries Lafayette

Synonyms

• 拉法葉／拉法叶