三五年 (sān wǔ nián) — a few years; several years (approximate time)

Definition

noun

a few yearsseveral years (approximate time)

三五年。
Tā zài zhè lǐ zhù le sān wǔ nián le.
He has lived here for a few years.
三五年。
Zài děng sān wǔ nián wǒ men jiù zhī dào le.
Wait a few more years and we'll know.
三五年，。
sān wǔ nián De shí jiān hěn cháng, dàn yě hěn duǎn.
A few years is a long time, but also very short.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

三五three or five

联合Side by side

三 and 五 are paired to suggest a few, with 年 indicating years.

Characters in this word

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

三 is drawn as three parallel strokes, like 一 with one stroke and 二 with two.

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

An older form had a crossed mark between a top bar and a bottom bar. The modern 五 keeps those bars, while the original idea is uncertain.

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.