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年级 (nián jí) — grade; year (in school, college, etc.)

Definition

年级 means which 'grade' or 'year' a student is in (e.g., 三年级 = third grade). 等级 is a more formal 'grade/rank/level' for quality or status, not school year.

noun
gradeyear (in school, college, etc.)
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 年级？
    Nǐ zài nǎ ge nián jí?
    Which grade are you in?
  • 年级。
    Wǒ nǚ ér shàng xiǎo xué sān nián jí le.
    My daughter is in third grade of elementary school.
  • 年级。
    Zhè ge nián jí yǒu wǔ shí gè xué shēng.
    This grade has fifty students.

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
级jígrade

年 refers to the school year, and 级 gives the idea of a grade or rank.

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 →

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 級; 级 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
糹Written in full as糸mìthread
Sound part声符shēngfú
及
及jí級jí
Same sound today

The traditional form 級 has 糹 (thread) and 及 as a sound part; its original sense was a sequence related to silk. The simplified 级 is a later shorthand.

Open 级 →
Appears in
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