年青人 (nián qīng rén) — young person; youth

Definition

年青人 is a written-form alternative to 年轻人. The modern standard is 年轻人; 年青人 sounds more formal or literary.

noun

young personyouth

Measure word · 个

年青人。
Zhè xiē nián qīng rén duì wèi lái chōng mǎn xī wàng.
These young people are full of hope for the future.
年青人，。
nián qīng rén Yīng gāi nǔ lì xué xí, dǎ hǎo jī chǔ.
Young people should study hard and lay a good foundation.
年青人，。
Zhè wèi nián qīng rén hěn yǒu cái huá, yǐ jīng chū bǎn le yì běn shū.
This young person is very talented and has already published a book.

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.

年青young

主谓Subject + predicate

“年” is age, “青” is youthful, and “人” is person, so it means a person at a youthful 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.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

An early form of 青 combined 生 and 井, both used for sound; the modern form has changed.

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

The shape of 人 shows a side view of a standing person, with an arm and a leg.

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