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年月 (nián yuè) — years and months; (long) time; the specific year and month (when something happened)

Definition

年月 usually means '(long) time / years and months', as in 经过漫长的年月 ('after many long years'). With 具体 or 具体发生 it shifts to mean the specific year and month of an event.

noun
years and months(long) timethe specific year and month (when something happened)

Examples

  • 年月，。
    Jīng guò màn cháng de nián yuè, tā zhōng yú chéng gōng le.
    After many long years, he finally succeeded.
  • 年月？
    Nǐ zhī dào nà jiàn shì fā shēng de jù tǐ nián yuè ma?
    Do you know the exact year and month when that incident happened?
  • 年月，。
    Zài zhàn zhēng de nà xiē nián yuè lǐ, rén men shēng huó hěn jiān nán.
    During those years of war, people lived very difficultly.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

年niányear
月yuèmonth

年 names years and 月 names months, together suggesting a stretch of time or a particular year and month.

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.

月 was drawn as a crescent moon, with the curved outline showing the moon’s shape.

Open 月 →
Appears in
Months & Dates

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