Kanji 老 old man, old age, grow old Related words 老若男女 spells out 'men and women of all ages' and is the far more common everyday phrase, while 老若 alone is a terser, more formal way of saying 'young and old'.
老幼 is a slightly more literary synonym for 老若 , both meaning 'the old and the young' but 老幼 appears mainly in written or formal contexts.
Don't confuse with 老弱 (ろうじゃく ) means 'old and weak/infirm', while 老若 (also sometimes read ろうじゃく ) means 'young and old'—the shared reading and kanji '老 ' make them easy to mix up despite very different meanings.
老若 only means 'young and old' without mentioning gender, while 老若男女 adds 男女 to explicitly cover both men and women of all ages.
Etymology Compound of 老 (old) and 若 (young). The reading ろうにゃく is the standard on'yomi combination; ろうじゃく is a variant reading.
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