老是
lǎoshì · HSK 2
always
♾️ 老 (always/old) + 是 (is) = is always the case
老 here means 'always/habitually' (not 'old'), and 是 is the copula 'is'. Together 老是 marks a recurring or persistent state — something that keeps on being so.
老 — old man 耂 + 匕 (bent figure)
Originally a pictograph of an elderly person with long hair leaning on a cane. The top 耂 depicts the hair and stooped body, while 匕 at the bottom represents the cane or a bent figure. The core meaning 'old' has remained stable since oracle bone script.
是 — sun 日 + 正 (correct/upright)
Originally a compound suggesting 'the sun 日 directly overhead'—straight, correct, true. From this concrete sense of 'right' or 'this very thing,' 是 came to mean 'this' as a demonstrative, and later the modern copula 'to be / is.' The 'correct' meaning survives in words like 是非 (right and wrong).