About
The character for “year” (年) originally depicted the concept of a harvest, with its earliest forms showing a person carrying grain on their back, and this agricultural foundation is still perceptible in its traditional construction, which combines the component for “grain” (禾) over a reduced form meaning “person” (千), which also serves a phonetic function. Over time, this concrete meaning of the harvest cycle, a full agricultural season, naturally extended to signify the abstract period of a solar year. This semantic shift from a specific agricultural event to a general unit of time was complete very early in the character’s history, and it solidified as its primary meaning, with the older sense of “harvest” or “crop yield” becoming a secondary, contextual definition.
Etymology Hide
Example Sentences Hide
今年是虎年。
我的年龄是十岁。
去年我们去北京旅游了。
每年春节都很热闹。
青年人是国家的未来。
这部电影讲述了多年的故事。
如果今年下雨少，明年可能缺水。
经过多年的努力，他终于实现了自己的梦想。