养儿防老

(of parents) to bring up children for the purpose of being looked after in old age

to raise (animals) / to bring up (children) / to keep (pets) / to support / to give birth

variant of 人[ren2] / "person" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 10), occurring in 兒, 兀, 兄 etc

child / son

non-syllabic diminutive suffix / retroflex final

to protect / to defend / to guard against / to prevent

prefix used before the surname of a person or a numeral indicating the order of birth of the children in a family or to indicate affection or familiarity / old (of people) / venerable (person) / experienced / of long standing / always / all the time / of the past / very / outdated / (of meat etc) tough