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同龄 (tóng líng) — person of the same age; age-mate

Definition

同 age-mate — refers to people of the same age, not just a shared birthday. Used as a noun or before a noun (同龄人, 同龄孩子), distinct from 同年, which more often marks a calendar year.

noun
person of the same ageage-mate
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 同龄，。
    Wǒ hé tā shì tóng líng, dàn tā yǐ jīng jié hūn le.
    He and I are the same age, but he's already married.
  • 同龄。
    tóng líng De hái zi wǎng wǎng yǒu xiāng sì de xìng qù.
    Children of the same age often have similar interests.
  • ，。
    Zài tóng líng rén zhōng, tā zǒng shì xiǎn de zuì chéng shú.
    Among people of the same age, he always seems the most mature.

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.

同tóngsame
龄língage

同 gives the idea of sameness, and 龄 refers to age, so the word means having the same age.

Characters in this word

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

同 originally drew a pipe. It is the old form of 筒.

Open 同 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 齡; 龄 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
齒齒chǐtooth
Sound part声符shēngfú
令
令lìng齡líng
Same sound today

The traditional form 齡 shows 齒, a tooth, associated with age, and 令 for the sound; simplified 龄 is a later shorthand.

Open 龄 →
Appears in
Life Stages & Age

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