Chinese symbol for “year”
年
nián
year; 个 (gè)
The closest CC-CEDICT match for year is 年 (nián), defined as: year; 个 (gè).
Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.
Characters and stroke order
Other Chinese words for “year”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 年度 | nián dù | year (e.g. school year, fiscal year); annual |
| 岁 (歲) | suì | classifier for years (of age); year |
| 载 (載) | zǎi | to record in writing; to carry (i.e. publish in a newspaper etc) |
| 春秋 | chūn qiū | spring and autumn; four seasons |
| 年级 (年級) | nián jí | grade; year (in school, college etc) |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 年.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 年代 | nián dài | a decade of a century (e.g. the Sixties); age |
| 今年 | jīn nián | this year |
| 每年 | měi nián | every year; each year |
| 青年 | qīng nián | youth; youthful years |
| 多年 | duō nián | many years; for many years |
| 年轻 (年輕) | nián qīng | young |
See also: Japanese symbol for “year”.
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.