What does 老铁 mean?

Question

I found some people call others 老铁. What does this mean? Does it mean friend? I can't find this usage in any dictionaries.

Answer 1

老铁 is a term that originates from Northeastern Mandarin (東北話), and means "bro" or "close friend". Slang from regional dialects often spill over into mainstream Chinese and get adopted by everyone.

Answer 2

Brief extension:

老: literally means old, but by adding in front of a pronoun, it produces a sense of intimacy.

Example:

老王 (Mr. Wang, but most likely someone you are famaliar with)

老哥 (buddy)

铁: literally "iron", describes a strong relationship.

Example:

铁哥们 (buddy, has a stronger relationship than "老哥")

巴铁 (some Chinese use this term to describe the relationship between China and Pakistan (巴基斯坦))

Note: The word is an internet slang derived from Dongbei dialect, so of course you can't find any definition in a formal dictionary.

Answer 3

According to baidu

中文名: 老铁

外文名: sidekick/buddy

Which also fits with the use of it as far as I have seen it

Answer 4

Actually in Northeast China, 老铁 means a secret lover. Later the meaning turned into 'friend'.

Answer 5

You can think 老铁 just means "guys" or "buddy" in english

Answer 6

more close than guys.

but a little 调侃

Answer 7

Means Pakistan and China are Iron Brothers. It’s signifies the relationship between the 2 countries.