一年年 (yī nián nián) — year after year, year by year (emphasizing grad…

Definition

Repeats 年 to mean 'year after year / year by year,' stressing gradual change or steady continuity across years. Often pairs with 都 to mean 'every single year.'

numeral

year after yearyear by year (emphasizing gradual change or continuity over time)

Examples

一年年，。
yī nián nián, Chéng shì biàn de yuè lái yuè piào liang.
Year after year, the city becomes more and more beautiful.
一年年。
Tā yī nián nián dōu zài nǔ lì xué xí zhōng wén.
He studies Chinese hard year after year.
一年年，。
yī nián nián Guò qù le, hái zi yě zhǎng dà le.
Year after year passed, and the child grew up.

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.

一yīeach

年年year after year

年niányear年niányear

重叠Reduplication

一 conveys one after another or each, and 年年 suggest successive years, so 一年年 means year after year.

Characters in this word

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

一 is drawn as one horizontal stroke, marking the number one.

Open 一 →

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 →