同龄人 (tóng líng rén) — person of the same age; age-mate | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Refers to people of the same age group, often used to highlight shared generational experience. Unlike 同学 (classmates) or 同事 (coworkers), the link is age, not a shared setting.

noun

person of the same ageage-mate

Measure word · 个

Examples

同龄人，。
Wǒ hé tā shì tóng líng rén, cóng xiǎo yì qǐ zhǎng dà.
He and I are age-mates; we grew up together since childhood.
同龄人。
tóng líng rén Zhī jiān wǎng wǎng yǒu gèng duō gòng tóng huà tí.
People of the same age often have more common topics.
同龄人，。
Zuò wéi tóng líng rén, wǒ men gèng néng lǐ jiě bǐ cǐ de yā lì.
As age-mates, we can better understand each other's pressures.

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.

同龄same age

同tóngsame龄língage

偏正Modifier + head

The 同 sense 'same' and 龄 'age' form 'same age', which combines with 人 'person' to mean an age-mate.

Characters in this word

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

同 originally drew a pipe. It is the old form of 筒.

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 齡; 龄 is its simplified writing.

齒令齡

Meaning part形符xíngfú

齒齒chǐtooth

Sound part声符shēngfú

令

令lìng齡líng

Same sound today

The traditional form 齡 shows 齒, a tooth, associated with age, and 令 for the sound; simplified 龄 is a later shorthand.

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.

Appears in

Life Stages & Age People (General)

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