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青年 (qīng nián) — young person; youth (the period of being young)

Definition

青年 refers to young people roughly in their late teens to twenties, as a group. Use 少年 for younger teens (early teens to early 20s) and 青春 for the abstract quality or period of youth.

noun
young personyouth (the period of being young)
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 青年。
    Nà wèi qīng nián shì wǒ dì di.
    That young person is my younger brother.
  • 青年。
    qīng nián Shí qī yào nǔ lì xué xí.
    During youth you should study hard.
  • 青年。
    Hěn duō qīng nián dōu xuǎn zé le qù dà chéng shì gōng zuò.
    Many young people chose to go work in big cities.

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.

青qīngyoung
年niányears

青 means young and 年 means years, together denoting youth or a young person.

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.

An early form of 青 combined 生 and 井, both used for sound; the modern form has changed.

Open 青 →

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 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 4Life Stages & Age

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