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(​秊) nián ‘ripe grain/crops’ combines ​禾 hé ‘cereal/grain’, over ​千 qiān ‘thousand’ (phonosemantic): a bumper crop of grain, harvesting thousands upon thousands of grains of rice/millet/etc. (​大​有年: ​大​丰年); the harvest comes but once a year, and a rich harvest time marks the whole year's work as a success.
    Older graphs associated with 年(​秊) have ​人 rén ‘person’ below instead of ​千 qiān ‘thousand’, but note that ​千 itself has ​人 as a component; some old forms have ​壬/​𡈼(​𡔛); old (OBI) graphs are assoc. with ​稔, as in ​稔​熟 rěnshóu ‘ripe (of grain)’ (HDZ), cf. ​念​熟.
    Compare: ​秀(​秂), ​秃(​禿), ​委.
    “The crop ... the thousand grains. By extension, a year, the time required for a harvest” —Wieger.
    Note: Different ‘year’ words arose in different historical periods: (​夏) ​歲, (​商) ​祀, (​周) 年, (​唐​虞) ​載.
    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
►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
►Cantonese: nihn\
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Unicode: U+5E74
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