老外是一个用于描述“外国人”的常用中文词汇。有关它的用法以及它是否含贬义的问题，有一些讨论。

“老外”一词约在20世纪80年代最初开始使用。该词是将“外国人”缩略为“外”之后，加上一个前缀“老”而构成的。前缀“老”用法繁多，有时会表示一种亲切或尊敬的褒义，如“老朋友”、“老师”，也有时会表示形容守旧的贬义，如“老古董”、“老东西”。而“老外”一词基本上为中性，该词本身通常不带有特别的褒贬，是否确实含有褒贬之意，视上下文而定。

Laowai is the Mandarin Chinese pronunciation of 老外 (pinyin: lǎowài, lit. "old outsider"), an informal or slang term for "foreigner," usually neutral but possibly impolite or loose in some circumstances. Formal and polite Chinese terms for foreigner include wàiguórén (simplified Chinese:外国人; traditional Chinese:外國人; literally: "foreigner"), wàibīn (外賓; 外宾; "foreigner guest"), and wàiguó pengyou (外國朋友; 外国朋友; "foreigner friend"). Laowai usually does not refer to other East Asians. It is typically used to refer to whites, blacks and people who are not Asians.