Chinese word

老鼠

Pronunciation

Pinyinlǎo shǔ

Meaning

  • nounmouse

Example

我在厨房看到一只老鼠。wǒ zài chú fáng kàn dào yì zhī láo shǔ

I saw a mouse in the kitchen.

Illustration for 老鼠 (mouse)

More examples

晚上我听到床下有老鼠在动。wǎn shàng wǒ tīng dào chuáng xià yǒu láo shǔ zài dòng

At night, I heard a mouse moving under the bed.

Core concept

A small night-active gnawer that enters human spaces and chews food and other materials.

Common phrases

  • 看见老鼠kàn jiàn láo shǔ

    see a mouse

  • 怕老鼠pà láo shǔ

    be afraid of mice

  • 捉老鼠zhuō láo shǔ

    catch a mouse

Similar words

鼠shǔ: A broad animal term for small rodents as a group.
仓鼠cāng shǔ: A small rodent kept as a pet that carries food in its cheek pouches.

Definition in Chinese

一种指家周围出现的小型啮齿类动物的名词，体型小，门齿发达，常在夜间活动并啃食食物或杂物。yì zhǒng zhǐ jiā zhōu wéi chū xiàn de xiǎo xíng niè chǐ lèi dòng wù de míng cí tǐ xíng xiǎo mén chǐ fā dá cháng zài yè jiān huó dòng bìng kěn shí shí wù huò zá wù

Word origin

老鼠 (lǎoshǔ, "mouse") combines 老 (lǎo, "old") + 鼠 (shǔ, "mouse"), with 老 serving as a familiar colloquial prefix rather than describing age.

Usage tips

  • Chinese counts small animals with 只 (zhī, "animal classifier"), so number is normally expressed through the classifier rather than by changing the noun.

Related words

  • 老鼠洞láo shǔ dòngmouse holenoun
  • 老鼠夹láo shǔ jiāmousetrapnoun
  • 老鼠药láo shǔ yàorat poisonnoun

Word lists with this word