Chinese Time Study #5:
Learn Year in Chinese & Chinese Year Words For Daily Use

Core "Year" Character in Chinese

“年份”的核心字 [Hé xīn zì]

Basically，one Chinese character 年 (nián) is used to express the year in Chinese or year-related Chinese words/phrases, to help distinguish the time of year from other Chinese time words, such as days, dates, days of the week, months, seasons, etc.

在汉语里，通常仅用一个汉字来表达以“年”为时间基准的、或与“年份”相关的词汇，和其他如日、星期、月、季节等时间词区分开来。

The Chinese character 年 generally contains several meanings in the context, the most common two of which imply the age or year time in Chinese. See more below.

一般来说，“年”字通常包含多种含义，依上下文而不同，其中最常见的是用来指“年”为基数的时间或年龄、岁数。如下。

• 年 (nián) - to commonly express the "year" in Chinese.
  年 - 中文里常用来表达“Year”的汉字。
  • a common Chinese character to signal the year as a unit of time in the Chinese language.
    表示以“年”为时间单位的常用汉字；
  • often appears in both written and spoken Chinese year words and expressions.
    常用于口语、书面语中表示年份；
  • originally means the year's harvest.
    中文里，本义指年成，一年的收成。
  • Nowadays, it also used to mean ages, such as:
    年龄 (nián líng) (age), 年纪 (nián jì) (people's age),
    or the time periods of people's life, such as:
    童年 (tóng nián) (childhood), 青年 (qīng nián) (youth), 老年 (lǎo nián) (old age), etc.
    现代，也常用于指岁数、如“年龄”、“年纪（专指人）”；或指人一生所经历的年岁时期，如“童年”、“青年”、“老年”等。

Modern: Specify A Year in Chinese With Ordinals

用现代纪年法表示年份（序数） [Xiàn dài biǎo shì nián fèn]

As similar as other countries did, China has adopted the international-general Gregorian Calendar to count and name years since 1949 although the traditional Chinese calendar is still popular and in use in China.

中国从 1949 年起开始同现代世界上大多数国家一样采用国际通行的公元纪年法来记载年份。

Nowadays, it's common to see a four-digit ordinal number, either written in Arabic or Chinese numeral characters, binding with the core Chinese character of year 年 together to specify a year in China, such as 2021年 (2021 nián) or 二零二一年 (2021 nián).

在现代中国表示年份的方法，通常是在公历年的序数字（阿拉伯数字或中文数字）后面加上一个“年”核心字，如“2021年”，或“二零二一年”。

In modern days, the commonly-appeared Year in Chinese =
4-digit Ordinals + 年, the Core Character for Year
四位数的序数 + “年” = 常见的中文“年份”表示法

For more common year expressions of details in modern China, please see below:

年份的具体中文读写方法，如下：

• First, "A four-digit Arabic numeral + 年" is the most common to see in China as a proper writing form to identify and specify a year in Chinese, e.g. the Year of 2022 written into Chinese as 2022年.
  最常见的是用“四位数的阿拉伯数字的序数字 + 年”表示中文年份，如公元元年后的年份为“2022年”。

  As to the year in Chinese heading with a four-digit numeral, just read each digit with the Chinese pronunciation from left to right, one after another, and then the Chinese pronunciation of 年, such as reading it out like 二零二二年 or fully 公元二零二二年 (gōng yuán 2021 nián) .

  用中文读出年份时，直接从左向右依次依次每个数字，如“二零二二年”或“公元二零二二年”；

• Secondly, it's also popular and formal to use "A four-digit Chinese Ordinals + 年" to express the year in Chinese, e.g. 二零二二年 in Simplified Chinese or 贰零贰贰年 in Traditional Chinese. And The way to read them out in Chinese is the same as that of the first form introduced above.
  用“四位数的中文序数字 + 年”表示中文年份，如简体中文的“二零二二年”或繁体中文的“贰零贰贰年”。也是从左向右依次用中文直接读出每个数字，如“二零二二年”或“公元二零二二年”；
• Thirdly, to turn the Year Before Common Era (BCE) into Chinese, you'd better add the equivalent Chinese word 公元前 (gōng yuán qián) in front of the year numbers, e.g. the Year of 221 BC (or 221 BCE) written as 公元前221年 (gōng yuán qián 221 nián) in Chinese, and then read it out in Chinese orderly with cautiousness (see tips below).
  公元元年以前的年份，则在数字前加上“公元前”的词语即可，如 the year 221 BC 或 221 BCE 中文写作“公元前221年”，需小心中文读法（见提示如下）。

What's more, there are certainly other Chinese era chronologies, with the origins early backing to 3000~2600 BCE. The two most popular Chinese era chronologies, well-known as "The Ten Heavenly Stems and Twelve Earthly Branches" 干支纪年 (gān zhī jì nián) and "Chinese 12 Zodiac Animals" 十二生肖纪年 (shí èr shēng xiāo jì nián) have been passed down for thousands of years and applied to the Chinese Calendar (the Lunisolar Calendar), both still using today in modern China.

除以上现代中国公历纪年法外，中国历史上还曾使用过多种中国纪年方法。其中，应用于中国农历的“干支纪年”法和“十二生肖纪年”法从古代流传下来，并一直沿用至今。

Learn Year-Counting Words Including Chinese Cardinals and Ordinals

学表达“年数”的词语（含序数和基数） [Biǎo dá nián shù]

Cardinals + 年 For Year-Counting in Chinese

To Count the Years in Chinese (using Cardinal Numbers) =
Cardinal Numbers + 年, the Core Character for Year
基数词 + “年” = 表示中文里的“年数”

• 一年 - (yī nián) - One year in Chinese
• 三年 - (sān nián) - Three years in Chinese
• 多年 - (duō nián) - Many years in Chinese
• 许多年 - (xǔ duō nián) - Many years in Chinese
• 好几年 - (hǎo jǐ nián) - Several years in Chinese
• 一年又一年 - (yī nián yòu yī nián) - Year after year in Chinese

Ordinals + 年 For the Sequence of Years in Chinese

To Specify the Sequence of year in Chinese (using Ordinal Numbers) =
Ordinal Numbers + 年, the Core Character for Year
序数词（第几） + “年” = 表达中文里的“年份排序”

To indicate the order of the year in Chinese, you can also combine the "Chinese Ordinal Expressions" in forms like 第几 (dì jǐ) with either the single 年 or a two-character word 年头 (nián tóu) for the year sequence, the latter requiring 个 (gè) - a must-have measure word - inserted into years' ordinal expressions in Chinese, as below.

若表示年份的排列次序，则可用“中文序数词”搭配单独的“年”字或二个字的词语“年头”一起使用，后者必须添加“个”字，如下所示。

• 第一年 - (dì yī nián) - The first year in Chinese
• 第四年 - (dì sì nián) - The fourth year in Chinese
• 第五个年头 - (dì wǔ gè nián tóu) - The fifth year in Chinese

Next, let's see below that how many Chinese words there are used to describe the second year or the similar's in Chinese.

接下来，一起看看中文里究竟有多少种说法用来描述和表达第二年/次年的含义，如下：

• 第二年 - (dì èr nián) - The second year in Chinese
• 明年 - (míng nián) - The next year in Chinese
• 下一年 - (xià yì nián) - The next year in Chinese
• 来年 - (lái nián) - The coming year in Chinese
• 次年 - (cì nián) - The ensuing year in Chinese
• 翌年 - (yì nián) - The following year in Chinese

And for more years in Chinese:

更多多年年份的表达，如下：

• 十年 - (shí nián) - the Decade or Ten years in Chinese.
• 二十年 - (èr shí nián) - Two decades or Twenty years in Chinese.
• 百年 - (bǎi nián) - the Century or Hundred years in Chinese, while the century is also known as 世纪 (shì jì).
• 千年 - (qiān nián) - Millennium or Thousand years in Chinese
• 万年 - (wàn nián) - Then-thousand years in Chinese

Learn More Chinese Year Words And Expressions

更多含“年”字的表达 [Gèng duō biǎo dá]

• 平年 - (píng nián) - Common year in Chinese, referring to the year containing 365 days opposite to the concept of Leap year in Chinese.
• 闰年 - (rùn nián) - Leap year in Chinese

Continue to more Chinese year words below:

更多带“年”的词语，如下：

• 首年 - (shǒu nián) - The initial year in Chinese
• 最初的一年 - (zuì chū de nián) - The initial year in Chinese
• 头几年 - (tóu jǐ nián) - The first few years in Chinese
• 最初几年 - (zuì chū jǐ nián) - Initial years in Chinese
• 一整年 - (yì zhěng nián) - A full/whole year in Chinese
• 全年 - (quán nián) - The entire year in Chinese
• 全年的 - (quán nián de) - Year-round in Chinese
• 一年到头 - (yī nián dào tóu) - All year round in Chinese
• 每年 - (měi nián) - Every year in Chinese
• 年年 - (nián nián) - Yearly, year by year, or year after year in Chinese

Chronological "Year" Words In Chinese

按时间排序的“年” [àn shí jiān pái xù]

Hope useful!