I don't understand why 老外 and 洋人 mean what they mean

Question

老外 - foreigner 洋人 - westerner

Why does each individual character mean? When I combine the definitions, it doesn't make much sense. Also, which one is more common?

Answer 1

老 (old) is a common word for making nicknames (indicates casualness, familiarity, or fondness). For example, you met someone and called him 李先生 (Mr. Lee) which is a formal address. Later you two became familiar with each other and you might start calling him 老李 instead, (similar to 'John' became 'Johny' in English)

外 (outside) 國 (country) 人 (people) people

外國人 = foreigner

老外 is a nickname for the formal term 外國人 (foreigner). It can be people of any race and from any country

洋人 short for 西洋人 (西 = west, 洋 = ocean 人 = people ; 西洋人 = westerner)

When the Europeans came to China, they came from the west by sea and the Chinese called them 西洋人. It could be shortened to 西人 or 洋人. We no longer use the term 洋人 nowadays in day to day speech, but the term 西人 is still in use for 'westerner' (white people from the western world) among Cantonese speakers (Canton is a major entry point to China by sea)

Answer 2

洋人 is a dead word. I don't think anyone uses it today other than in historical drama. 洋 means ocean and when combined with other nouns it means things came over the ocean. Such as 洋务 means foreign affairs, 洋货 means imported goods, 洋火 means matches, 洋枪 means foreign guns (spear in Chinese is also called 枪), 洋人 just means foreign people. However, all these words are dead words.

It should be a neutral word, but most people will relate the word with history when China being invaded. So there is some bad feeling about it.

Answer 3

they are not mean, they are just not kind enough :p

for me, I will use "外國人"(foreigner) or "外國朋友"(foreigner friend)

Answer 4

老外 is an abbreviated colloquialism of the formal term 外国人 (foreigner).

外 (foreign) 国(country) 人 (human) = foreigner

洋人 literally means “overseas human”, which is an archaic term for “foreigner”.

洋

① [original meaning] sea, ocean;

② [extended meaning] overseas.

Answer 5

老 is more like a modal particle, expressing a mood. it may create familiarity among the speakers. eg like 老哥 （chinese equivalent of bro）, 老弟...

外 means 外国人（foreigner）

洋 means foreign， it is an adjective dates back to ancient china.

人 means foreign--ER

generally，老外 is often used nowadays,especially in oral language. the formal one would be 外国人。while 洋人 is kinda old school style. or used by someone who deliberately wanted to be sounded like an old school academic.

Answer 6

"老" in "老外" does not mean "old", but a prefix. I think it is a word usually be used before a name, like that in "老李". "外国人" is not a name, but here people use it as a name, so "外" is like a surname, just like "社" and "资" in "姓社还是姓资"[To choose socialism(社会主义) or capitalism(资本主义)]. It is not unfriendly to foreigners. It is a slang using between Chinese. It is neither negative nor positive.

e.g. 看，那边街上有个老外。

It means the speaker feels strange about it, and his words are just statement.

"洋人" is mostly a negative word in modern time. It was used in the 19th century. At first it is neither positive nor negative. It means "a person who comes from overseas". "西洋人" means Westerners. "东洋人" means Japanese. When time flew, a lot of foreigners became the invader, then this word became more and more negative.("八国联军""英法联军"...). Another word is "洋鬼子", it is even more hostile.

e.g. 洋人进入了圆明园，开始凶暴地烧杀抢掠。