養兒防老 (joeng5 ji4 fong4 lou5) — rearing children prevents one from aging in Cantonese
joengˏ₅養jiˎ₄兒fongˎ₄防louˏ₅老简 养儿防老
Mandarin Pinyin: yang3 er2 fang2 lao3
Meaning of 養兒防老
nounrearing children prevents one from aging
Characters in 養兒防老
養joeng5
rest; convalesce; recuperate
兒ji4
final particle / suffix, placed after many commonly used nouns to avoid employing one-syllable terms in speech (very common in the Beijing dialect 北京話, see: 兒化, 兒化韻)
防fong4
prevent
老lou5
a particle used before a man's family name to indicate familiarity and friendship
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