CJK Radical Old

It marks “old” as a dictionary radical, not a word.

In dictionaries of Han characters, a radical is a component used to group entries; remaining strokes help sort characters within the group. ⺹ is the symbol form used to label this radical in character charts, not a character to substitute into a written word.

The full character 老 has its own long history. Oracle-bone inscriptions—writing on animal bones and turtle shells—show a stooped, long-haired person carrying a staff; bronze inscriptions render the staff part as 匕. In later seal script, an early formal writing style, explanations read the figure, hair, and change element as hair turning white with age. Oracle-bone records also use 老 as a place name; bronze texts use it for older people and senior ministers. The Kangxi Dictionary, a Chinese reference work from the 18th century, organized entries by radical and remaining strokes.

Is ⺹ the same as 耂 or 老?

No: the three forms have different jobs.

Use ⺹ as the radical symbol in notation. Unicode links it to 耂, the shorter component form; 老 is the full character, used as a word meaning old, aged, or experienced and as this radical’s main form in dictionaries. Keep the notation, component, and ordinary text roles separate.

⽼ is the corresponding form in the Kangxi Radicals block. It and ⺹ are distinct encoded radical characters, even when a font gives them a similar outline.

How do I type ⺹?

Use Unicode input and verify the result.

Enter U+2EB9 in an input tool that accepts Unicode code points, then check that the result is ⺹. A font may draw it differently or may not have a glyph for it at all.

If the glyph is missing, search for the character name or inspect the code point in a Unicode-aware editor. A similar-looking form is not a safe substitute: 耂, 老, and ⽼ have different roles.