老来得子

老來得子

lǎoláidézǐ

idiom

Meanings

1 to have a child late in life (especially of a father)

Characters

(temporal marker: come to)

to obtain / get

Examples

他六十岁老来得子，乐得合不拢嘴。

Tā liùshí suì lǎolái dézǐ, lè de hé bu lǒng zuǐ.

He had a son at sixty — he couldn't stop grinning.

老来得子是福气，但也很辛苦。

Lǎolái dézǐ shì fúqi, dàn yě hěn xīnkǔ.

Having a child late in life is a blessing, but also exhausting.

Tips

culture

Traditionally seen as great fortune (福气 fúqi) — a sign of vitality and good karma — and a recurring trope in Chinese fiction and TV drama for fathers. With the lifting of the one-child policy and rising marriage ages, the phrase is now invoked semi-jokingly when middle-aged celebrities announce a baby.

register

Used about fathers far more than mothers; for women the parallel idea is the more clinical 高龄产妇 (gāolíng chǎnfù, advanced-age mother).

Stroke Order

老 lǎo

来 lái

得 dé

子 zǐ