年 nián — year; age, years of a person’s life; the annual harvest (original sense)

nián

year; age, years of a person’s life; the annual harvest (original sense)

6 画部首干词频 #30

含“年”的词汉字书写实验室问问 AI 导师

拼音

nián (second tone, rising)

year; age, years of a person’s life; the annual harvest (original sense)

字形拆解

禾meaning partno entry yetStanding grain with the ear bending over at the top — the crop, in the older form 秊.
人shape partThe person carrying it home. In the modern six-stroke shape the two elements have been run together and can no longer be separated on the page.

Mnemonic

Before it fused, the character was written 秊: grain 禾 above a person 人, someone carrying the cut harvest home. One harvest is one year, and the word has counted both ever since. Two habits go with it: 年 needs no measure word — 三年, never 三个年 — and it names years directly in 今年, 去年 and 明年.

A memory aid written by HSK Guide editors. It is not an etymology and does not describe the historical origin of the character.