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百年 (bǎi nián) — a hundred years; century; (figurative) a lifetime (e.g. in marriage blessings or long-term vision)

Definition

Literally 'hundred years' / 'a century'. In blessings like 百年好合 it means a lifetime together — not literal arithmetic. Rare outside set phrases.

noun
a hundred yearscentury(figurative) a lifetime (e.g. in marriage blessings or long-term vision)

Examples

  • 百年。
    Zhè zuò jiàn zhù yǐ yǒu bǎi nián lì shǐ le.
    This building already has a history of a hundred years.
  • 百年，。
    Zhù nǐ men bǎi nián hǎo hé, bái tóu xié lǎo.
    Wishing you a harmonious century together and to grow old together.
  • 百年，。
    bǎi nián Zhī qián, zhè lǐ hái shì yí piàn huāng dì.
    A hundred years ago, this place was still a barren land.

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.

百bǎihundred
年niányear

百 counts the years, and 年 names the time unit, giving 'hundred years'.

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
一一yī
Sound part声符shēngfú
白
白bái百bǎi
Same sound today

百 combines 一, which carries the number meaning, with 白, which provides the sound.

Open 百 →

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
Time (Abstract)

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