HSK 1 · Time

年 nián “year” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 年 means

  1. year

Measure word 个 gè · 一个年 yí ge nián

How to say 年

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale年nián2nd tone, rising

年 in a sentence

  1. 一年有十二个月。

    Yì nián yǒu shí'èr ge yuè.

    A year has twelve months.

    Sentence #333474 from Tatoeba

  2. 我们认识有好些年了。

    Wǒmen rènshi yǒu hǎoxiē nián le.

    We’ve known each other for years.

    Sentence #512899 from Tatoeba

  3. 你这些年在做什么？

    Nǐ zhèxiē nián zài zuò shénme?

    What have you been doing these last few years?

    Sentence #10895457 from Tatoeba

How 年 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 年 (nián) drawn as one shape
年niányear

年 is a single shape of 6 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

Memory aidA person carrying ripe grain: one harvest, one year.

How to write 年

年 6 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

年 (nián) stroke order chart: each stroke of the character in the order you write it
Stroke order chart for 年 (nián). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 年

Words with 年

今年jīnnián · this year明年míngnián · next year去年qùnián · last year过年guònián · to celebrate the Chinese New Year年轻niánqīng · young年级niánjí · grade新年xīnnián · New Year前年qiánnián · the year before last后年hòunián · the year after next年龄niánlíng · (a person’s) age

More words: Time

号hào · number上午shàngwǔ · morning (forenoon)时候shíhou · time下午xiàwǔ · afternoon月yuè · month同时tóngshí · at the same time永远yǒngyuǎn · forever暂时zànshí · temporary

FAQs

年 (nián) means “year”. It is an HSK 1 word, so it is one of the words learners meet early.
Say it nián: nián with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 年 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Use 个 (gè). For example, one year is 一个年 (yí ge nián).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type nian with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 年 from the suggestions. Typing nian into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
年 is an HSK 1 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

Turn words into conversations

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.