一二年 (yī èr nián) — the year 2012 (abbreviated form)

Definition

A spoken/informal abbreviation for the year 2012, read as four separate digits (yī èr nián). Use the full 二〇一二年 in formal writing.

noun
the year 2012 (abbreviated form)

Examples

  • 一二年。
    Wǒ shì yī èr nián chū shēng de.
    I was born in 2012.
  • 一二年。
    Tā shì yī èr nián bì yè de.
    He graduated in 2012.
  • 一二年。
    yī èr nián Fā shēng le hěn duō dà shì.
    Many big events happened in 2012.

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 →

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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