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Kanji Detail for 歳 - "year, age"

歳

  • Meaning

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

    1. Year - One year; an annual cycle.

    2. Age - One's years of life.

    3. Harvest - The ripening of crops.

  • Words using 歳

    • 歳出 さいしゅつ Listen annual expenditure (of a state, organization, etc.)
    • 歳入 さいにゅう Listen annual revenue (government); annual income (government); budget receipts
    • 歳月 さいげつ Listen time; years
    • 歳暮 せいぼ Listen year-end gift; end of the year; year end
    • 歳末 さいまつ Listen year end
    • お歳暮 おせいぼ Listen year-end gift; end of the year; year end
    • ２０歳 はたち Listen 20 years old

  • Four-character idioms with 歳

    • 千秋万歳 せんしゅうばんぜい Listen may you live a thousand years
    • 年年歳歳 ねんねんさいさい Listen annually; every year; year in year out
    • 歳寒三友 さいかんさんゆう Listen the three friends of winter (pine, bamboo and plum)

  • Origin of 歳

    戉, the ritual axe, with 步, steps: the stepping of the year-star (Jupiter, 歳星) across the sky, one station per year. Age is the planet's march, counted.

    How to remember it: Jupiter pacing 步 one step across the sky — each stride, one year of your age.

    Sources: en.wiktionary.org · mojinavi.com

  • Tattoo check: 歳

    • Verified meaning: year, age
    • Official Jōyō kanji — a standard character every Japanese reader recognises
    • Used in real Japanese given names (read さい, とし)
    • 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 歳

    Given names 歳(さい)Listen 歳(とし)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-end; age; occasion; opportunity

    Unihan Unicode Han Database for CJK characters

    year; age; harvest

    CC-CEDICT A Chinese-English dictionary

    Japanese variant of 歲|岁

  • Onyomi

    tip

    sai(サイ) サイ

    sei(セイ) セイ

  • Kunyomi

    tip

    tose(とせ) とせ

    toshi(とし) とし

    yowa.i(よわい) よわい

  • Strokes

    tip

    13 strokes

  • Radical

    tip

    止 (tomeru・tomehen)

  • Related Keywords

    year age harvest years old annual elderly mature old senior time

Sentences including 歳

  • I have turned 20.

  • People above 18 may drive.

  • She has been studying english since the age of ten.

  • This book is easy enough for a five-year-old child to read.

  • She got married when she was twenty-five.

  • He is three years senior to me.

  • When i was fifteen , i got a room of my own.

  • You could count to ten when you were two.

  • He is very clever for a boy of ten.

  • Three cheers for the team.

Sentences from Japanese classical masterpieces

More kanji with the radical 止 (tomeru・tomehen)

See all kanji with this radical →

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