TSUMUGU · TOCFL 1 (est.) · 字
年
ㄋㄧㄢˊ · nián
noun — year
字源 FORM — what the parts do
年形a worn solid — once grain (禾) carried by a person (人)
A figure walks with the cut grain on his back — the harvest coming home. One harvest is one year; counting harvests became counting years. Centuries of copying fused person and grain into the solid 年.
故事 STORY — a scene to remember it by
田割完了，一大捆禾壓在彎彎的背上，往家走——又揹回一年。
The field is cut; a heavy sheaf rides the bent back home — another year carried in.
字源記憶法
意 · Meanings
(本義)收成— the harvest — 豐年 keeps it
→一年、今年— the year — one harvest's span常用
⇒年紀、年代— age; era — years stacked up
(本義) original meaning · → ⇒ each arrow = one more step of extension
關 · Related
歲suìthe other year-word — it counts age禾héthe grain it once carried
演 · Evolution
甲骨文是禾下面一個人——扛禾的人。後來把人寫成了千，筆畫再黏下去，就分不開了。
Oracle bones draw 人 under 禾 — the carrier under the grain. Later hands wrote the man as 千; the strokes have since fused past telling apart.