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Laowai, an alien, is the Mandarin Chinese pronunciation of (pinyin: ''lǎowài'', lit. "old outsider"), an informal or slang term for "foreigner," possibly impolite or loose in some circumstances. Formal and polite Chinese terms for foreigner include ''wàiguórén'' (), ''wàibīn'' (), and ''wàiguó pengyou'' ().〔"(Culture: Seven Ways to Say 'Foreigner' )". 17 Mar 2004. Accessed 15 Jun 2014.〕 "Laowai" usually does not refer to other East Asians or Chinese who are foreigners living in a country outside of China. It is typically used to refer to non-Asian "Westerners," whites, blacks, Latin Americans, Arabs, others of Middle Eastern descent.〔Mair, Victor. "(Laowai: the old furriner )" at ''Language Log''. 9 Apr 2014. Accessed 15 Jun 2014.〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=老外喜过中国年-中国年-江西新闻网 )〕 ==Etymology== The use of the word began in the 1980s, as an abbreviation of the term (foreigner) into (foreign or outside) plus the character (old). The character typically means "". It can have positive associations, indicating age or experience — such as ''lǎopéngyou'' ()—or respect, as in the familiar use of ''lǎo'' to denote the senior and respected members of families or to address teachers (, ''lǎoshī''). However, in certain contexts, it can also carry negative connotations of being old or aged looking (), boring old —as in ''lǎo gǔdǒng'' ()—or of years of experience and contempt—as in ''lǎo dōngxi'' (, lit. "old thing"). It may be used in the arts or in jokes with the sense of "always" or "very": a famous comedy role was named the ''Lǎoniān'' (老蔫, "Old Listless") and Tom Hardy was affectionately known in mainland China as ''Lǎoshī'' (,}} s ) because of his perpetually shiny hair. It can also be used as an empty prefix, particularly with animals such as tigers (), mice (), and eagles (). The term has come to used for specific countries as well, with ''lǎo-'' functioning as a colloquial equivalent for ''-guórén'': ''lǎoměi'' (), ''lǎoying'' (), ''lǎoxin'' (, both "New Zealander" and "Singaporean"), even ''lǎozhōng'' () to refer to Chinese () themselves. The original and correct form of the term uses the character (also ''lǎo''), which includes the "person" radical. This ''lǎo'' is a slang word for man (similar to "guy") with somewhat derogatory connotations. The fact that it is almost always used as a noun makes this proposed etymology grammatically awkward, however,〔 would be a more standard construction.〕 and there is little evidence to support it apart from its use in the Cantonese racial slur ''gweilo'' (). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「laowai」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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