上年 (shàng nián) — last year | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

A written/formal way to say 'last year', common in business, news, and reports. In everyday speech 去年 is more natural.

noun

last year

Examples

上年。
shàng nián De xiāo shòu é bǐ jīn nián gāo.
Last year's sales were higher than this year's.
上年。
shàng nián Tā qù le rì běn liú xué.
He went to Japan to study last year.
上年。
shàng nián De zhè ge shí hou wǒ men hái zài běi jīng.
At this time last year, we were still in Beijing.

Origin

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.

上shàngprevious

上 means previous and 年 means year; together they point to the year before.

Characters in this word

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

上 is drawn as a short horizontal line placed above a longer arc, marking a position above that arc.

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.

Appears in

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