勞勞

Chinese

		toil	toil
trad. (勞勞)		勞	勞
simp. (劳劳)		劳	劳

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): láoláo

(Zhuyin): ㄌㄠˊ ㄌㄠˊ
Hakka (Sixian, PFS): lò-lò

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: láoláo
  - Zhuyin: ㄌㄠˊ ㄌㄠˊ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: láoláo
  - Wade–Giles: lao²-lao²
  - Yale: láu-láu
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: laulau
  - Palladius: лаолао (laolao)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /lɑʊ̯³⁵ lɑʊ̯³⁵/
Hakka
- (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Neipu)
  - Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: lò-lò
  - Hakka Romanization System: lo^ˇ lo^ˇ
  - Hagfa Pinyim: lo² lo²
  - Sinological IPA: /lo¹¹ lo¹¹/

Middle Chinese: law|lawH law|lawH

Rime
Character	勞	勞
Reading #	1/2	2/2
Initial (聲)	來 (37)	來 (37)
Final (韻)	豪 (89)	豪 (89)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)	Departing (H)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open
Division (等)	I	I
Fanqie	魯刀切	郎到切
Baxter	law	lawH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/lɑu/	/lɑu^H/
Pan Wuyun	/lɑu/	/lɑu^H/
Shao Rongfen	/lɑu/	/lɑu^H/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/law/	/law^H/
Li Rong	/lɑu/	/lɑu^H/
Wang Li	/lɑu/	/lɑu^H/
Bernhard Karlgren	/lɑu/	/lɑu^H/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	láo	lào
Expected Cantonese Reflex	lou⁴	lou⁶

Old Chinese
(Baxter–Sagart): /*[r]ˤaw|[r]ˤaw-s [r]ˤaw|[r]ˤaw-s/

(Zhengzhang): /*raːw|raːws raːw|raːws/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	勞	勞
Reading #	1/2	2/2
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	láo	lào
Middle Chinese	‹ law ›	‹ law^H ›
Old Chinese	/*[r]ˁaw/	/*[r]ˁaw-s/
English	toil	to reward for toil
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. [t] as coda may in fact be -t or -p; Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	勞	勞
Reading #	1/2	2/2
No.	7647	7657
Phonetic component	勞	勞
Rime group	宵	宵
Rime subdivision	1	1
Corresponding MC rime	勞	嫪
Old Chinese	/*raːw/	/*raːws/

Adjective

勞勞

worried
- 舉手長勞勞，二情同依依。 [MSC, trad.]
  举手长劳劳，二情同依依。 [MSC, simp.]
  From: 《玉臺新詠•古詩＜為焦仲卿妻作＞》
  Jǔshǒu cháng láoláo, èr qíng tóng yīyī. [Pinyin]
  (please add an English translation of this usage example)
laborious
sparse
noisy

Derived terms

勞勞叨叨 / 劳劳叨叨

Etymology 2

For pronunciation and definitions of 勞勞 – see 遼遼 (“distant”). (This term is a variant form of 遼遼).