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每年 (měi nián) — every year

Definition

noun
every year

Examples

  • 每年。
    Wǒ měi nián dōu qù zhōng guó lǚ xíng.
    I travel to China every year.
  • 每年。
    Zhè ge gōng sī měi nián dōu huì jǔ bàn yí cì nián huì.
    This company holds an annual meeting every year.
  • 每年。
    Tā měi nián dōu huì gěi fù mǔ jì qián.
    He sends money to his parents every 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.

每měievery
年niányear

每 means every, and 年 means year, so together they mean each year.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

每 shows 母, a woman, with a top part resembling 屮. That part may represent a hairpin marking her as grown up, or a sprout marking her as ready to marry and have children.

Open 每 →

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
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