Etymology

laowai

lao·wai
L1A1O1W4A1I1

Today it means: A foreigner in mainland China or Taiwan, (particularly) a Western one. Full definition →

Mandarin 老外
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The story

  1. Mandarin · borrowed from老外
  2. English todaylaowai

From Mandarin 老外 (lǎowài, literally “old outside[r]”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.