老大无成 — “To grow old without achieving anything significant”
老大无成 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to grow old without achieving anything significant”. To accomplish nothing in one's life. Literally, “elderly without achievement”.
老大无成 Pronunciation and Pinyin
老大无成 Character Breakdown
Stroke OrderExample Sentence with 老大无成
Origin and Story of 老大无成
Xue Pan, Xue Baochai's elder brother, was a genuine playboy. He never took his studies seriously, spending his days on cockfighting and dog racing. By the time he reached adulthood, he was incapable of doing anything.
Although he inherited his father's business as an imperial merchant, he was naive about worldly affairs. Local merchants defrauded him of all his possessions.
In desperation, he had no choice but to take his mother and sister to seek refuge with the Jia family.
Idioms Related to 老大无成
Synonyms of 老大无成
More idioms starting with 老
- lǎo老bù不xiǎo晓shì事old and muddled
- lǎo老zhī之jiāng将zhì至old age is approaching
- lǎo老yú于shì世gù故worldly-wise and experienced
- lǎo老sēng僧rù入dìng定deeply absorbed and still
- lǎo老bā八bèi辈zi子extremely old-fashioned
- lǎo老yī医shǎo少bo卜Each has their own strengths
- lǎo老gǔ古bǎn板an old-fashioned stick-in-the-mud
- lǎo老gǔ古dǒng董old-fashioned person or thing
- lǎo老wú吾lǎo老yǐ以jí及rén人zhī之lǎo老Respect all elders as your own
- lǎo老dà大tú徒shāng伤Regret wasted youth in old age
- lǎo老tiān天bá拔dì地old person's stiff, slow, clumsy movements
Recommended tools
Chinese Text Image Generator
Create PNGs with pinyin, highlight character parts or remove strokes
Open the tool →
Writing Worksheets
Printable tracing sheets with a QR learning companion
Open the tool →
Bingo Cards
Picture and word Bingo for your class
Open the tool →
Picture Worksheets
Chinese and English fill-in vocabulary worksheets
Open the tool →Questions about 老大无成
What does 老大无成 mean?
老大无成 (lǎo dà wú chéng) is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to grow old without achieving anything significant”.
How do you pronounce 老大无成?
老大无成 is pronounced lǎo dà wú chéng in Mandarin Chinese.
What does 老大无成 literally mean?
Literally, 老大无成 means “elderly without achievement”. It is used to mean “to grow old without achieving anything significant”.
Where does 老大无成 come from?
老大无成 comes from a classical Chinese story dating back to ancient China. The full story is on this page.
What is the Chinese definition of 老大无成?
老大：年老。年纪已老，无所成就。