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成年 (chéng nián) — to grow to adulthood; to become an adult; fully grown; adult (attributive)

Definition

As a verb it means 'to reach adulthood.' 成人 can be a verb or a noun ('an adult'); 成年 is a verb, or attributive adjective in phrases like 成年人. 大人 just means 'an adult' as a noun.

verb
to grow to adulthoodto become an adultfully grownadult (attributive)

Examples

  • 成年。
    Tā chéng nián yǐ hòu jiù chū qù gōng zuò le.
    After he became an adult, he went out to work.
  • 成年？。
    Nǐ chéng nián le ma? xiàn zài kě yǐ zì jǐ zuò jué dìng le.
    Have you become an adult? Now you can make your own decisions.
  • 成年。
    chéng nián Zhī qián yào xué huì zhào gù zì jǐ.
    Before reaching adulthood, you need to learn to take care of yourself.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

成chéngbecome
年niánage

成 means “become” and 年 means “age”; the word means reaching adult 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
戊戊wù
Sound part声符shēngfú
丁
丁dīng成chéng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

成 puts 戊, a weapon, beside 丁, which gives the sound. The weapon part relates to protection, as in the old sense of city walls.

Open 成 →

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
HSK 3.0 Level 5Life Stages & Age

Browse more HSK 5 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.