年

年 (Kangxi radical 51, 干+3, 6 strokes, cangjie input 人手 (OQ), four-corner 8050₀, composition ⿱𠂉㐄 or ⿻午⿱一丨 or ⿻午丄)

• 𠈠, 哖, 𡋂, 姩, 𰑖, 𢬧, 𪰟, 𣑻, 𭯌, 脌, 𰏥, 𭽨, 𭾮, 𰏧, 𰪹, 𦀅, 𫻽, 𮜵, 𨦧, 𭙆, 𢆥, 𫮱, 𪪈, 𢆭, 𫑑
• 𨚶, 𢆘, 𭙂, 𫷗, 𰏫, 𢧚, 𮗐, 𨚽, 𭙄, 𭙅, 𫷜, 鵇, 𫷞, 𢆫, 𦮴, 𢆡, 𢆤, 𨴞, 𡒛, 𣠊, 𤩻, 𦒌

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 340, character 1
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 9168
• Dae Jaweon: page 648, character 2
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 37, character 6
• Unihan data for U+5E74
• Unihan data for U+F98E

Historical forms of the character 年
Shang		Western Zhou	Spring and Autumn	Warring States		Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)	Libian (compiled in Qing)
Bronze inscriptions	Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Qin slip script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts	Clerical script

In the oracle bone script and early bronze inscriptions, it was originally 秂, an ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) and phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *niːŋ) : semantic 禾 (“wheat; grain”) + phonetic 人 (OC *njin, “person”) – a person carrying wheat on his back – harvest.

In bronze inscriptions after the Western Zhou period, a stroke was often added to 人 to give 千 (OC *sn̥ʰiːn), which still acted as a phonetic component, and this form (秊) was inherited by later scripts. The current form is inherited from the clerical script, where libian (隸變) has occurred.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-ni(ː)ŋ ~ s-nik (“year”).

年

1. year (in generic contexts)

   明年  ―  míngnián  ―  next year

   2012年  ―  2012 nián  ―  the year of 2012

2. harvest

   豐年／丰年  ―  fēngnián  ―  year with a good harvest

3. annual

   年報／年报  ―  niánbào  ―  annual report

4. age

   年滿二十／年满二十  ―  nián mǎn èrshí  ―  to reach twenty years of age

   延年益壽／延年益寿  ―  yánniányìshòu  ―  to prolong life

5. period of life

   童年  ―  tóngnián  ―  childhood

6. period (in history)

   清朝末年  ―  Qīngcháo mònián  ―  last years of the Qing dynasty

7. Chinese New Year

   過年／过年  ―  guònián  ―  to spend the Chinese New Year

8. things for the Chinese New Year

   年糕  ―  niángāo  ―  nian gao

   年貨／年货  ―  niánhuò  ―  New Year purchases

9. Classifier for years.

   兩年前／两年前 [Cantonese]  ―  loeng⁵ nin⁴ cin⁴ [Jyutping]  ―  two years ago

10. a surname

    年羹堯／年羹尧  ―  Nián Gēngyáo  ―  Nian Gengyao

• Although 年 is the generic term for year, years of age are typically expressed in 歲／岁 (suì), a separate system based on the duodecennial orbital period of Jupiter. Ages in 歲／岁 (suì) are traditionally reckoned using the Chinese lunar calendar, beginning with 1 at the moment of birth and increasing not during birthdays but at the Chinese New Year.

• 歲／岁 (suì)
• 秋 (qiū)

Others:

• Wutunhua: nian
• → Zhuang: nienz

• “年”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), A01194
• “Entry #2287”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2023.
• “Entry #2288”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2023.

(grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

• Go-on: ねん (nen, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: でん (den)
• Kun: とし (toshi, 年, Jōyō); とせ (tose, 年); よわい (yowai, 年)^{←よはひ (yofafi, 年, historical)}; みのり (minori, 年)
• Nanori: ね (ne)

From Middle Chinese 年 (nen, “year”). Compare modern Mandarin reading nián, Hakka ngièn, Cantonese nin⁴.

• (Tokyo) ね​ん [néꜜǹ] (Atamadaka – [1])[1]
• IPA^(key): [nẽ̞ɴ]

年(ねん) • (-nen) 

1. years

年(ねん) • (nen) 

1. a year

   年(ねん)に一(いち)度(ど)

   nen ni ichido

   once a year

年(ねん) • (-nen) 

1. a grade, a school year

   彼(かれ)は中(ちゅう)学(がく) ２(に)年(ねん)だ。

   Kare wa chūgaku ni-nen da.

   He's in the second year in junior high school.

   • 1984 February 15, Motoka Murakami, “１(いち)年(ねん)１(いち)組(くみ)の六(ム)三(サ)四(シ)と嵐(らん)子(こ)の巻(まき) [Class-1 Freshmen, Musashi and Ranko]”, in 六(ム)三(サ)四(シ)の剣(けん) (六(ム)三(サ)四(シ)の剣(けん)) [Musashi’s Sword], volume 13 (fiction), Tokyo: Shogakukan, →ISBN, pages 142–144:

     な、なんだおまえら⁉

     Na, nan da o-maera⁉

     Wh-Who the hell are you!?

     １(いち)年(ねん) １(いち)組(くみ)っ‼ 夏(なつ)木(き)六(ム)三(サ)四(シ)ぃ‼

     Ichi-nen ichi-kumi'‼ Natsuki Musashī‼

     Class-1 freshman!! Musashi Natsuki!!

     同(おな)じく轟(とどろき)嵐(らん)子(こ)！

     Onajiku Todoroki Ranko!

     Same here, Ranko Todoroki!

2. a year

   2008(にせんはち)年(ねん)に橋(はし)を建(けん)設(せつ)し始(はじ)めるようだ。

   Nisenhachi-nen ni hashi o kensetsu shi hajimeru yō da.

   It seems like they will start constructing the bridge in (the year) 2008.