一九一二年 (yī jiǔ yī èr nián) — (the year) 1912

Definition

noun
(the year) 1912

Examples

  • 一九一二年。
    Tā chū shēng zài yī jiǔ yī èr nián.
    He was born in 1912.
  • 一九一二年。
    yī jiǔ yī èr nián Shì zhōng guó lì shǐ shàng zhòng yào de yì nián.
    1912 is an important year in Chinese history.
  • 一九一二年。
    Zhè suǒ xué xiào chéng lì yú yī jiǔ yī èr nián.
    This school was founded in 1912.

Origin

Characters in this word

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

一 is drawn as one horizontal stroke, marking the number one.

Open 一 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape comes from a stylized hand bent at the wrist, with the lower-right hook showing the bend. Later, it was taken to show a tightened fist bumping up to ten, giving the number nine.

Open 九 →

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

一 is drawn as one horizontal stroke, marking the number one.

Open 一 →

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

二 is drawn as two parallel strokes, where the number of strokes shows the amount.

Open 二 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
禾禾héwheat; grain
Sound part声符shēngfú
人
人rén年nián
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

年 pairs 禾 (grain) with 人, which gives the sound. Its original meaning was harvest, and it later came to mean a year.

Open 年 →

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