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年少 (nián shào) — young (in age)

Definition

verb
young (in age)

Examples

  • 年少。
    Tā nián shào shí fēi cháng nǔ lì.
    He was very hardworking when he was young.
  • 年少。
    nián shào Wú zhī bú shì fàn cuò de jiè kǒu.
    Youth and ignorance are not excuses for making mistakes.
  • 年少，。
    Tā suī rán nián shào, dàn yǐ jīng hěn yǒu cái huá le.
    Although he is young, he is already very talented.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
主谓zhǔwèiSubject + predicate

A small sentence frozen into a word: something, and what it does or is.

年niánage
少shǎoyoung

When 年 (age) is 少 (young), it means young of age.

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 →

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

The form 少 is drawn as four dots, perhaps three grains of sand, to indicate a few or a little.

Open 少 →
Appears in
Life Stages & Age

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