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年复一年 (nián fù yī nián) — year after year, year in year out

Definition

An idiom meaning 'year after year,' emphasizing long, repeated passage of time, often with a sense of monotony or persistence. Used as an adverbial phrase to modify a following verb or clause.

idiom
year after yearyear in year out

Examples

  • 年复一年，。
    nián fù yī nián, Tā dōu zài jiān chí xué xí hàn yǔ.
    Year after year, he persists in learning Chinese.
  • 年复一年。
    Zhè zuò chéng shì de fēng jǐng nián fù yī nián dōu méi yǒu biàn huà.
    The scenery of this city hasn't changed year after year.
  • 年复一年。
    nián fù yī nián De xīn kǔ gōng zuò zhōng yú huàn lái le chéng gōng.
    Year after year of hard work finally brought success.

Origin

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.

Open 年 →

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 復; 复 is its simplified writing.

The simplified 复 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words (复习, 恢复) it is 復; in others (复印, 复杂) (答复, 反复) it is 複 or 覆.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
彳彳chìwalk
Sound part声符shēngfú
复
复fù復fù
Same sound today

The traditional form 復 combines 彳, a walking part, with 复, a sound part, to show walking back and forth.

Open 复 →

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

一 is drawn as one horizontal stroke, marking the number one.

Open 一 →

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.

Open 年 →
Appears in
Frequency & DurationIdioms & Set Phrases

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