上有老下有小 in English shang4 you3 lao3 xia4 you3 xiao3 Meaning

Meanings

• literally (word for word) above are the elderly, below are the young (idiomatic expression)
• metaphorically to have to take care of both one's aging parents and one's children
• sandwich generation

Pinyin

shang4 you3 lao3 xia4 you3 xiao3

Literal

Literal explanation, with pronunciation and meaning of each character.

上shang4see 上聲|上声[shang3 sheng1] 有you3to have 老lao3prefix 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 下xia4down 有you3to have 小xiao3small