周年 (zhōu nián) — anniversary | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

周年 marks a yearly milestone of an event (founding, wedding, etc.). Use 纪念日 for a named commemorative day; 周岁 is for a person's exact age.

noun

anniversary

Measure word · 个

周年。
Jīn nián shì xué xiào jiàn xiào wǔ shí zhōu nián.
This year is the school's fiftieth anniversary.
周年。
Tā men xià ge yuè yào qìng zhù jié hūn shí zhōu nián.
They are going to celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary next month.
周年。
Zhè chǎng zhǎn lǎn shì wèi le jì niàn gōng sī chéng lì èr shí zhōu nián.
This exhibition is to commemorate the company's twentieth anniversary.

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.

周zhōufull cycle

周 means full cycle and 年 means year, so together they mark a complete year and its anniversary.

Characters in this word

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

The oldest form of 周 drew a jade artifact with carved patterns. It was later borrowed for a place name, so an extra mark was added to distinguish it.

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.

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