Example sentences
jīn今nián年shì是nǎ哪nián年？
What year is it?
tā他zhù住zhè这ér儿sān三nián年le了。
He's lived here three years.
The story behind the character
年
A stalk of grain on top, a bent figure below. A person carrying the harvest. The crop only comes in once a year. Xu Shen wrote 年, 谷孰也: "the grain is ripe." "New Year" originally meant the grain ripened and it was time to celebrate the harvest.