年历 (nián lì) — year calendar (often a single-page or wall cale…

Definition

noun

year calendar (often a single-page or wall calendar showing the entire year)

Measure word · 本

年历。
Wǒ mǎi le yì zhāng xīn de nián lì guà zài qiáng shàng.
I bought a new year calendar and hung it on the wall.
。
Zhè běn nián lì shàng biāo chū le suǒ yǒu fǎ dìng jià rì.
This year calendar marks all the official holidays.
年历。
Měi nián nián dǐ wǒ dōu huì huàn yì běn xīn de nián lì.
At the end of each year, I replace it with a new year calendar.

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.

历lìcalendar

年 marks the span of one year, and 历 is the calendar, so 年历 is a year calendar.

Characters in this word

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.

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 歷; 历 is its simplified writing.

The simplified 历 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words (简历, 经历) it is 歷; in others (日历) it is 曆.

厤止歷

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

厤

厤lì歷lì

Same sound today

The form 歷 pairs 止 with the sound part 厤.