Zi:年

年 [nián] year; ​今(​明,​去)年 this (next, last) year; (HDZ:) ​五​谷​成​熟; … [nìng] ​佞

One monosyllabic entry in The ABC Chinese-English Comprehensive Dictionary (namespace Ci):

►¹nián* ​年 {A} m. year ◆b.f. ①age ►niánlíng 年龄 ②New Year ►¹niángāo 年糕 ③a period in one's life ►¹zhōngnián 中年 ④a period in history ►mònián 末年 ⑤harvest ►niáncheng 年成 ◆n. ①age ‖ Tā ∼ jìn liùshí. 他∼近六十。 He's close to 60 years old. ②Surname

The character 年 (6 strokes) is an old abbrev. of older forms such as ​秊 (8 strokes); in the modern form 年 the top part ​𠂉 (2 strokes) corresponds to the first 2 strokes of the old upper component ​禾, and the remainder of the old form is abbrev. (to 4 strokes, see below).
    The Shuōwén Seal form of 年(​秊) nián ‘ripe grain/crops’ is said to combine ​禾 hé ‘cereal/grain’ (as in ​季 jì ‘annual season’), with ​千 qiān ‘thousand’ (phonosemantic): a bumper crop of grain in annual harvest season, yielding thousands upon thousands of grains of rice/millet/etc. (​大​有年: ​大​丰年); the autumn harvest comes but once a year, marking the success of the whole year's work, with ample seed for future planting.
    Note: In the old form ​秊⿱​禾​千 ((p,h,s,p,n),(p,h,s)) the strokes of ​千 (p,h,s) repeat (like the years), since the upper component ​禾 (p,h,s,p,n) begins with the same 3 strokes as the lower component ​千 (p,h,s); and in the modern form 年 (p,h,h,s,h,s) the last 2 strokes (h,s) repeat the last 2 strokes of ​千 (p,h,s); the central 4 strokes (s,p,n,p) of the old form ​秊 (p,h,(s,p,n,p),h,s) are reduced to 2 strokes (h,s) in the modern form 年 (p,h,(h,s),h,s); formerly also abbrev. 〾​𤘧⿱​千​千, and ​𠦅⿰​千​千 (YTZ) with the same stroke count as 年; some of the many old variants are complex and suggest numeric/mathematical/astronomical usage: ​𠦅, 〾​𤘧, ​䄭, ​秊/​䄹, ​𠦚/​𠡦, ​𦼌, ​𠫺/​𠬋 (YTZ).
    Note: Different ‘year’ words arose in different historical periods: (​夏) ​岁/​歲 suì; (​商) ​祀 sì; (​周) 年(​秊) nián; (​唐​虞) ​載(​𨌏) zǎi (HDZ).
    Older graphs associated with 年(​秊) have the component ​人 rén ‘person’ below instead of ​千 qiān ‘thousand’, but ​人 is itself a component of ​千; some old forms have ​壬/​𡈼(​𡔛); OBI graphs are assoc. with ​稔, as in ​稔​熟 rěnshú//rěnshóu ‘ripe/mature (of grain/etc.)’ (HDZ), cf. ​念​熟 niànshú.
    “[年] The crop ... the thousand grains. By extension, a year, the time required for a harvest” —Wieger.
    Compare: ​季 jì ‘season of the year’; ​委 wěi ‘yield/follow’.
    Compare: ​秀(​秂) xiù ‘flower/bear (excellent/outstanding) seed/fruit’; ​秃(​禿) tū ‘bald/bare’.
    HDZ: 年 : nián : ​五​谷​成​熟; (​单​位) ​时​间, ​地​球​环​绕​太​阳​从​某​一​定​标​点​回​到​同​一​定​标​点​所​经​历​的​时​间 (​恒​星年, ​回​归年, ​近​点年; ​闰年); 年​节 (​新年, ​过年); 年​纪, ​岁​数 (年​富​力​强, 年​高​德​劭); ​某​一​时​期 (​近年, ​南​宋​末年, ​少年, ​青年, ​老年); ​帝​王​的年​号 (​改年: ​改​元); ​命​运, ​时​运; (​姓) • nìng : ​佞
    HDC: ​稔​熟 : ​熟​悉; ​成​熟
►references: Guǎngyùn:134.45; Wieger:24d; Henshall:64; Karlgren:AD669,GSR364a; Hànyǔ Dà Zìdiǎn:1.37.6; Lindqvist:188; Mathews:4711; Kāngxī Zìdiǎn:340.01; Bǐshùn Guīfàn:028.1.04; Wáng(1993):181; EDOC:1
►components: ​千​𠂉​十​㐄​𡕒
►Cantonese: nihn\
►stroke 年 (... strokes)   
►list characters containing 年 as a component
►list words containing 年 (most common words first)
Unicode: U+5E74
►web links for ‘年’
search web for ‘年’: ►Google ►GT ►Baidu ►Bing ►Yahoo

---

The Wenlin Zidian (namespace Zi)
URL: https://wenlin.co/wow/Zi:%E5%B9%B4
Refresh this page