年

See also: 秊, ヰ, and 𡕒

Translingual

Stroke order

Stroke order

Han character

年 (Kangxi radical 51, 干+3, 6 strokes, cangjie input 人手 (OQ), four-corner 8050₀, composition ⿱𠂉㐄 or ⿻午⿱一丨 or ⿻午丄)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 340, character 1
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 9168
• Dae Jaweon: page 648, character 2
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 37, character 6
• Unihan data for U+5E74

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Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 年
Shang		Western Zhou	Spring and Autumn	Warring States		Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)	Libian (compiled in Qing)
Bronze inscriptions	Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Qin slip script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts	Clerical script

In the oracle bone script and early bronze inscriptions, it was originally 秂, an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) and phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *niːŋ) : semantic 禾 (“wheat; grain”) + phonetic 人 (OC *njin, “person”) – a person carrying wheat on his back – harvest.

In bronze inscriptions after the Western Zhou period, a stroke was often added to 人 to give 千 (OC *sn̥ʰiːn), which still acted as a phonetic component, and this form (秊) was inherited by later scripts. The current form is inherited from the clerical script, where libian (隸變) has occurred.

Etymology

simp. and trad.		年
alternative forms		秊

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-ni(ː)ŋ ~ *s-nik (“year”).

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 年

1. year (in generic contexts)

   2012年  ―  2012 nián  ―  the year of 2012

2. harvest
3. annual
4. age
5. period of life

   童年  ―  tóngnián  ―  childhood

6. period (in history)
7. New Year

   過年／过年  ―  guònián  ―  to pass the New Year

8. things for the New Year
9. Classifier for years.

   兩年前／两年前 [Cantonese]  ―  loeng⁵ nin⁴ cin⁴ [Jyutping]  ―  two years ago

10. a surname

Usage notes

• Although 年 is the generic term for year, years of age are typically expressed in 歲／岁 (suì), a separate system based on the duodecennial orbital period of Jupiter. Ages in 歲／岁 (suì) are traditionally reckoned using the Chinese lunar calendar, beginning with 1 at the moment of birth and increasing not during birthdays but at the Chinese New Year.

See also

• 歲／岁 (suì)
• 秋 (qiū)

Further reading

• “Entry #2298”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2024.

(deprecated template usage)

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Japanese

Kanji

年

(First grade kyōiku kanji)

Readings

• Go-on: ねん (nen, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: でん (den)
• Kun: とし (toshi, 年, Jōyō)、とせ (tose, 年)、よわい (yowai, 年)^{←よはひ (yofafi, 年, historical)}、みのり (minori, 年)
• Nanori: ね (ne)

Compounds

Compounds

• 年(ねん)月日(がっぴ) (nengappi)
• 年(ねん)号(ごう) (nengō)
• 年(ねん)次(じ) (nenji)
• 年(ねん)数(すう) (nensū)
• 年(ねん)度(ど) (nendo)
• 年(ねん)輪(りん) (nenrin)
• 年(ねん)齢(れい) (nenrei)

• 閏(うるう)年(どし) (urūdoshi)
• 学(がく)年(ねん) (gakunen)
• 元(がん)年(ねん) (gannen)
• 去(きょ)年(ねん) (kyonen)
• 今(こ)年(とし) (kotoshi)
• 新(しん)年(ねん) (shinnen)
• 来(らい)年(ねん) (rainen)

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
年
ねん Grade: 1
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese 年 (nen, “year”). Compare modern Mandarin reading nián, Hakka ngièn, Cantonese nin⁴.

Counter

年(ねん) or 年(counter) • (nen or counter) [[Category:Japanese
|ねん]]

1. years

See also

Japanese number-counter combinations for 年(ねん) (nen)
1	2	3	4	5
一(いち)年(ねん) (ichinen)	二(に)年(ねん) (ninen)	三(さん)年(ねん) (sannen)	四(よ)年(ねん) (yonen)	五(ご)年(ねん) (gonen)
6	7	8	9	10
六(ろく)年(ねん) (rokunen)	七(なな)年(ねん) (nananen) 七(しち)年(ねん) (shichinen)	八(はち)年(ねん) (hachinen)	九(きゅう)年(ねん) (kyūnen) 九(く)年(ねん) (kunen)	十(じゅう)年(ねん) (jūnen)
100	1,000	10,000	How many? What year?
百(ひゃく)年(ねん) (hyakunen)	千(せん)年(ねん) (sennen)	一(いち)万(まん)年(ねん) (ichimannen)	何(なん)年(ねん) (nannen)

Noun

年(ねん) • (nen) 

1. a year

   年(ねん)に一(いち)度(ど)

   nen ni ichido

   once a year

Suffix

年(ねん) or 年(suffix) • (nen or suffix) [[Category:Japanese
|ねん]]

1. a grade, a school year

   彼(かれ)は中(ちゅう)学(がく) ２(に)年(ねん)だ。

   Kare wa chūgaku ni-nen da.

   He's in the second year in junior high school.

   • 1984 February 15, Motoka Murakami, “１(いち)年(ねん)１(いち)組(くみ)の六(ム)三(サ)四(シ)と嵐(らん)子(こ)の巻(まき) [Class-1 Freshmen, Musashi and Ranko]”, in 六(ム)三(サ)四(シ)の剣(けん) [Musashi’s Sword], volume 13 (fiction), Tokyo: Shogakukan, →ISBN, pages 142–144:

     な、なんだおまえら⁉

     Na, nan da o-maera⁉

     Wh-Who the hell are you!?

     １(いち)年(ねん) １(いち)組(くみ)っ‼ 夏(なつ)木(き)六(ム)三(サ)四(シ)ぃ‼

     Ichi-nen ichi-kumi'‼ Natsuki Musashī‼

     Class-1 freshman!! Musashi Natsuki!!

     同(おな)じく轟(とどろき)嵐(らん)子(こ)！

     Onajiku Todoroki Ranko!

     Same here, Ranko Todoroki!

2. a year

   2008(にせんはち)年(ねん)に橋(はし)を建(けん)設(せつ)し始(はじ)めるようだ。

   Nisen-hachi-nen ni hashi o kensetsu shi hajimeru yō da.

   It seems like they will start constructing the bridge in (the year) 2008.

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
年
とし Grade: 1
kun'yomi

/to₂si/ → /tosi/ → /toɕi/

From Old Japanese. Originally referred to grain, particularly rice, and by extension, the year's harvest.

Alternative forms

• 歳

Noun

年(とし) • (toshi) 

1. (obsolete) grain, particularly rice
2. (obsolete) a grain harvest, a grain crop
3. a year
4. age

Derived terms

• 年(とし)神(がみ) (Toshigami): the spirit or god of the year
• 年(とし)を取(と)る (toshi o toru): to pass New Years; to age

Etymology 3

Kanji in this term
年
とせ Grade: 1
kun'yomi

/to₂se/ → /tose/

From Old Japanese. Likely a shift in pronunciation from toshi.

Suffix

年(とせ) or 年(suffix) • (tose or suffix) [[Category:Japanese
|とせ]]

1. (obsolete) used to count years
   • c. 759, Man’yōshū, book 5, poem 880:
     , text [1]:

     阿麻社迦留(あまざかる)、比奈尓伊都(ひなにいつ)等世(とせ)、周麻比都都(すまひつつ)、美夜故能提夫利(みやこのてぶり)、和周良延尓家利(わすらえにけり)

     Amazakaru, hina ni itsu tose, sumahitsutsu, miyako no teburi, wasuraenikeri

     While living five years in the far-remote countryside, I wound up forgetting the manners of the capital

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Korean

Hanja

年 (eumhun 해 년 (hae nyeon), word-initial (South Korea) 해 연 (hae yeon))

1. year

Compounds

• 閏年 (윤년, yunnyeon)
• 學年 (학년, haknyeon)

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Vietnamese

Han character

年: Hán Việt readings: niên
年: Nôm readings: năm, nên, niên, niền

1. chữ Hán form of niên (“year”).
2. Nôm form of năm (“year”).

Compounds

• 十年 (thập niên)
• 少年 (thiếu niên)
• 年少 (niên thiếu)
• 青年 (thanh niên)