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Kanji Detail for 年 - "year, age"

年

  • Meaning

    年 means "year, age." Also associated with harvest.

    1. Year - Twelve months; one annual cycle.

    2. Age - One's years of life.

    3. Harvest - The ripening of crops; how well the harvest turned out.

  • Words using 年

    • 今年 ことし Listen this year
    • 前年 ぜんねん Listen the preceding year; the previous year; last year
    • 年間 ねんかん Listen (period of) a year; during the era (of)
    • 昨年 さくねん Listen last year
    • 来年 らいねん Listen next year
    • 周年 しゅうねん Listen whole year; entire year; n-th year anniversary
    • 少年 しょうねん Listen boy; juvenile; child
    • 年生 ねんせい Listen nth-year student; nth-year pupil

  • Four-character idioms with 年

    • 年中行事 ねんちゅうぎょうじ Listen annual function; annual event
    • 年功序列 ねんこうじょれつ Listen seniority by length of service
    • 十年一日 じゅうねんいちじつ Listen without intermission for ten (long) years; with constancy of purpose for ten (long) years; in the same old rut for years on end
    • 十年一昔 じゅうねんひとむかし Listen the pace of change makes ten years back seem like ancient history
    • 年功加俸 ねんこうかほう Listen long service allowance; longevity pay
    • 年年歳歳 ねんねんさいさい Listen annually; every year; year in year out

  • Origin of 年

    The old form 秊 shows a person 人 carrying the grain plant 禾: the harvest brought home. One harvest, one year — time measured in what the fields give.

    How to remember it: A farmer walking home under a sheaf of rice — that trip happens once a year.

    Sources: en.wiktionary.org · mojinavi.com

  • Tattoo check: 年

    • Verified meaning: year, age
    • Official Jōyō kanji — a standard character every Japanese reader recognises
    • Used in real Japanese given names (read すすむ, とし, としまつ, ねん)
    • Also carries these associations: harvest

    A single kanji rarely maps one-to-one onto an English word. Read the meanings and associations above as a set — a character that fits the dictionary definition can still carry a connotation you did not intend.

  • Name readings of 年

    Given names 年(すすむ)Listen 年(とし)Listen 年(ねん)Listen 年(みのる)Listen

    Surnames 年(としまつ)Listen 年(ひろし)Listen

  • Compare with other kanji that mean the same thing:

  • Dictionary Citations

    The meaning above is based on the following sources:

    KANJIDIC2 A comprehensive Japanese-English kanji dictionary

    year; counter for years

    Unihan Unicode Han Database for CJK characters

    year; new-years; person's age

    CC-CEDICT A Chinese-English dictionary

    surname Nian

    Make Me a Hanzi Open-source Chinese character data

    year; anniversary; a person's age

    XSZD Xuéshēng Zìdiǎn (學生字典) - Student's Dictionary

    A year. 年 was originally the name for ripened grain. Since grain ripens once yearly, it became the name for a year. In calendrics, the earth orbiting the sun once is one year. | Age. Meaning one's years. | In the imperial examination era, those who passed together were called 同年. Their social relations were called 年誼.

  • Onyomi

    tip

    nen(ネン) ネン

  • Kunyomi

    tip

    toshi(とし) とし

  • Strokes

    tip

    6 strokes

  • Radical

    tip

    干 (kan・ichiju・hosu)

  • Related Keywords

    year age harvest fruition yield aging anniversary annual birthday calendar century crops cycle decade duration generation grain lifespan longevity maturity millennium months rice ripening season time

Sentences including 年

  • He's been having trouble with back pain for years.

  • Will you go to america next year?

  • The boy drew a picture on the wall.

  • He is as tall as any boy in his class.

  • Jane came to our town three years ago.

  • It is colder this year than last year.

  • The boy fanned himself with his hat.

  • Tom is too honest a boy to tell a lie.

  • Their garden is full of very beautiful flowers all the year round.

  • It is ten years since i came to live in shizuoka.

Sentences from Japanese classical masterpieces

More kanji with the radical 干 (kan・ichiju・hosu)

See all kanji with this radical →

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