TongTong
Sign in

年初 (nián chū) — beginning of the year

Definition

年初 refers to the start of the calendar year (roughly January–February), a general time period. 年终 is its opposite — the end of the year. 新春 and 正月 are more festive and tied to the lunar new year.

noun
beginning of the year

Examples

  • 年初。
    nián chū Hěn duō rén huì zhì dìng xīn nián jì huà.
    Many people make New Year plans at the beginning of the year.
  • 年初。
    nián chū Gōng sī fā bù le jīn nián de xiāo shòu mù biāo.
    At the beginning of the year, the company announced this year's sales targets.
  • 年初？
    nián chū Nǐ dǎ suàn qù lǚ xíng ma?
    Are you planning to travel at the beginning of the 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.

年niányear
初chūbeginning

The year 年 at its beginning 初 means early in the year.

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
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 →

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

初 combines 衤 (clothes) and 刀 (knife), showing the start of making clothes by cutting cloth.

Open 初 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 5

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