Zi:年

From Wenlin Dictionaries

[nián] year; ​(​,​)年 this (next, last) year; (HDZ:) ​; … [nìng] ​

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

¹nián* {A} m. yearb.f.age ►niánlíng 年龄New Year ►¹niángāo 年糕a period in one's life ►¹zhōngnián 中年a period in history ►mònián 末年harvest ►niáncheng 年成n.ageTā ∼ jìn liùshí. 他∼近六十。 He's close to 60 years old.Surname

5e74.png
The character 年 (6 strokes) is an old abbrev. of older forms such as ​ (8 strokes); in the modern form 年 the top part ​𠂉 (2 strokes) corresponds to the first 2 strokes of the old upper component ​, and the remainder of the old form is abbrev. (to 4 strokes, see below).
    The Shuōwén Seal form of 年(​) nián ‘ripe grain/crops’ is said to combine ​ hé ‘cereal/grain’ (as in ​ jì ‘annual season’), with ​ qiān ‘thousand’ (phonosemantic): a bumper crop of grain in annual harvest season, yielding thousands upon thousands of grains of rice/millet/etc. (​年: ​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 ​⿱​ ((p,h,s,p,n),(p,h,s)) the strokes of ​ (p,h,s) repeat (like the years), since the upper component ​ (p,h,s,p,n) begins with the same 3 strokes as the lower component ​ (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 ​ (p,h,s); the central 4 strokes (s,p,n,p) of the old form ​ (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⿱​, and ​𠦅⿰​ (YTZ) with the same stroke count as 年; some of the many old variants are complex and suggest numeric/mathematical/astronomical usage: ​𠦅, 〾​𤘧, ​, ​/​, ​𠦚/​𠡦, ​𦼌, ​𠫺/​𠬋 (YTZ).
    Note: Different ‘year’ words arose in different historical periods: (​) ​/​ suì; (​) ​ sì; (​) 年(​) nián; (​) ​(​𨌏) zǎi (HDZ).
    Older graphs associated with 年(​) have the component ​ rén ‘person’ below instead of ​ qiān ‘thousand’, but ​ is itself a component of ​; some old forms have ​/​𡈼(​𡔛); OBI graphs are assoc. with ​, as in ​ rěnshú//rěnshóu ‘ripe/mature (of grain/etc.)’ (HDZ), cf. ​ niànshú.
    “[年] The crop ... the thousand grains. By extension, a year, the time required for a harvest” —Wieger.
    Compare: ​ jì ‘season of the year’; ​ wěi ‘yield/follow’.
    Compare: ​(​) xiù ‘flower/bear (excellent/outstanding) seed/fruit’; ​(​禿) tū ‘bald/bare’.
    HDZ: 年 : nián : ​; (​) ​, ​ (​年, ​年, ​年; ​年); 年​ (​年, ​年); 年​, ​ (年​, 年​); ​ (​年, ​年, ​年, ​年, ​年); ​年​ (​年: ​); ​, ​; (​) • nìng : ​
    HDC: ​ : ​; ​
►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:𠂉𡕒
►Cantonese: nihn\
►stroke 年 (... strokes)   
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Unicode: U+5E74
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