Meaning
year
Chinese: 年份、年龄或一年。
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “nian” becomes a different word in each tone. 年 is the 2nd tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.
Stroke Order
Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.
Common Words
- 今年jīn niánthis year
- 去年qù niánlast year
- 明年míng niánnext year
- 新年xīn niánNew Year
- 半年bàn niánhalf a year
Example Sentence
新的一年又开始了。Xīn de yì nián yòu kāi shǐ le.A new year has begun again.
新Xīnnew的deof一yìone年niányear又yòuagain开始kāi shǐto begin了le(completed action)。
Go deeper
Where this character comes from
Originally a person (人) carrying ripe grain (禾) home: the grain harvest came once round — hence a ‘year’.
A way to remember it
One harvest carried home — one year.