老五 (lǎowǔ): fifth child in a family

Meanings

1 fifth child in a family
2 the fifth (in a sibling order)
3 bachelor (slang, short for 王老五)

Characters

老

lǎo

old; prefix for ordinal ranking in families

五

wǔ

five

Examples

他在家排行老五，上面有四个哥哥姐姐。

Tā zài jiā páiháng lǎowǔ, shàngmiàn yǒu sì gè gēgē jiějie.

He is the fifth child in the family, with four older siblings above him.

村里人叫他王老五，因为他一直没娶到媳妇。

Cūn lǐ rén jiào tā Wáng Lǎowǔ, yīnwèi tā yīzhí méi qǔdào xífu.

The villagers called him Wang Laowu because he never managed to find a wife.

Tips

culture

老五 is the informal way of addressing or referring to the fifth child in a family. 王老五 (Wáng Lǎowǔ — literally 'Old Fifth Wang') is a stock phrase for an unmarried man or bachelor, often with a slightly pitying or humorous tone. The phrase entered popular usage from folk culture and literature.