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年幼 (nián yòu) — young (in age); juvenile

Definition

verb
young (in age)juvenile

Examples

  • 年幼。
    Tā nián yòu shí fù mǔ jiù qù shì le.
    His parents died when he was young.
  • 年幼，。
    Zhè zhī dà xióng māo suī rán nián yòu, dàn yǐ jīng xué huì le pá shù.
    Although this giant panda is young, it has already learned to climb trees.
  • 年幼。
    nián yòu Wú zhī bú shì fàn cuò de jiè kǒu.
    Youth and ignorance are not excuses for making mistakes.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
主谓zhǔwèiSubject + predicate

A small sentence frozen into a word: something, and what it does or is.

年niánage
幼yòuyoung

年 refers to age and 幼 to young, so it means young in age.

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.

幼 is built from 幺, shown as tiny, and 力, shown as strength. 幺 may also contribute the sound.

Open 幼 →
Appears in
Life Stages & Age

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