Laowai

Laowai is the Mandarin Chinese pronunciation of 老外 (pinyin: lǎowài, lit. "old outsider"), an informal or slang term for "foreigner," usually neutral but possibly impolite or loose in some circumstances. Formal and polite Chinese terms for foreigner include wàiguórén (simplified Chinese: 外国人; traditional Chinese: 外國人; literally: "foreigner"), wàibīn (外賓; 外宾; "foreigner guest"), and wàiguó pengyou (外國朋友; 外国朋友; "foreigner friend"). "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.

Etymology

The use of the word 老外 began in the 1980s, as an abbreviation of the term 外國人 (foreigner) into 外 (foreign or outside) plus the character 老 (old). The character 老 typically means "old". It can have positive associations, indicating age or experience — such as lǎopéngyou (老朋友; "old friend")—or respect, as in the familiar use of lǎo to denote the senior and respected members of families or to address teachers (老師; 老师, lǎoshī).