A person harvesting a grain crop

Pinyin	nián
Meaning	year
Radical	干	繁體字	same

午

writing patterns, not components

category: simplified

structure: single

6stroke count

HSK 1

年 (nián) was originally a compound ideograph that meant “harvest.” It used to have two components, one for “grain” and the other for “person.” Later, the components were simplified, and the meaning of the character shifted to mean “year,” as people usually harvest once a year.

Used as a morpheme/word

As a word, 年 (nián) means “year.” As a morpheme, 年 (nián) is also used to signify “age.”

How to pronounce

This character sounds like “knee yen” spoken in one syllable, but put stress on the last e.