年末 (nián mò) — end of the year; year-end

Definition

noun
end of the yearyear-end

Examples

  • 年末。
    Gōng sī tōng cháng zài nián mò jǔ bàn nián huì.
    The company usually holds an annual meeting at the end of the year.
  • 年末，。
    nián mò Dào le, dà jiā dōu zài zǒng jié guò qù yì nián de gōng zuò.
    Year-end has arrived, and everyone is summarizing their work over the past year.
  • 年末。
    Yín háng zài nián mò huì gōng bù xīn de lì lǜ zhèng cè.
    The bank will announce new interest rate policies at the end of the year.

Origin

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.

年niányear
末mòend

年 marks the year and 末 its end, together meaning the final time of a year.

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 →

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

末 adds a mark at the top of a tree-like shape to show its tip or end.

Open 末 →

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