年
Year
| on’yomi | kun’yomi | Radicals |
|---|---|---|
| ねん | とし |  + 牛 |
Meaning: Year
The cow part of this kanji is slightly altered, but I think you can see where it is. The gun looks just fine, though. Think back to a fake memory you have living on the farm. You have your gun, and you gotta use it on a cow (ruh roh). Once a year on New Years, you have to go out and shoot one of the cows. It’s only a yearly shooting, though, so at least there’s that respite.
You’ll have to imagine yourself doing this to remember the meaning of the kanji. Focus on the thought that “okay… it’s only once a year… I only have to do this once a year…”
Reading: ねん
It is New Years, though, so when you bring the dead cow back home, it’s time to celebrate. Using the cow’s organs and bones, you and your siblings construct a working Nintendo (ねん, you’ll have to stretch the pronunciation a bit). You play the Nintendo on cow-hoof controllers, and it’s a lot of fun. Ironically, the game has you hunt cows.
Weird mnemonic, and the reading is a little different from nin (you’ll just have to remember this). Make sure you pretend to build a Nintendo out of a cow, though. Makes no sense, I know, but that’ll help you to remember this reading better, as long as you actually imagine yourself doing these things.
Vocabulary
Learn these words before moving on – focus on the meaning, especially (and learn what readings you can).
年（とし）＝ Year
- Meaning: Same as the kanji
- Reading: The kun’yomi reading. Every year, you look at your tush (とし). It gets bigger every year – time to lose some weight this year.
a ２０１１年（にせんじゅういちねん）＝ 2011 (the year)
- Meaning: To do the year, just say the number + 年 (ねん)
- Reading: The on’yomi readings of everything. 2012 is 2012年.
a 年上（としうえ）＝ Older
- Combo: 年 (year) + 上 (above)
- Meaning: Those who have years above you are older than you
- Reading: The kun’yomi readings of the kanji. Remember how 上 likes to be in kun’yomi mode a lot of the time?
a 年下（としした）＝ Younger
- Combo: 年 (year) + 下 (below)
- Meaning: Those who have years below you are younger than you
- Reading: Like 年上, the kun’yomi readings are used here.
a 先年（せんねん）＝ Former years
- Combo: 先 (previous) + 年 (year)
- Meaning: Previous years and former years.
- Reading: The on’yomi of the two kanji
a 年内（ねんない）＝ Within A Year
- Combo: 年 (Year) + 内 (Inside)
- Meaning: Inside a year is within a year
- Reading: The reading is the on’yomi readings, combined.
a 年中（ねんじゅう）＝ Year Round, All Year
- Combo: 年 (year) + 中 (middle)
- Meaning: Happens in the middle of the year, between the first day and the last day. That’s all year round.
- Reading: The on’yomi readings, all around.
a 年末（ねんまつ）＝ End of the year
- Combo: 年 (year) + 末 (end, tip)
- Meaning: The end of the year is the end of the year
- Reading: On’yomi readings, both.
a 一年生（いちねんせい）＝ First Year Student
- Combo: 一 (one) + 年 (year) + 生 (life)
- Meaning: This is like freshman. There’s also 二年生、三年生、and so on.
- Reading: On’yomi readings all around.
a 今年（ことし）＝ This Year
- Combo: 今 (now) + 年 (year)
- Meaning: The now year is this year.
- Reading: The 今 is a shortened version (normally it’s こん) of the on’yomi, and 年 is the kun’yomi. This reading is a bit of an exception reading you’ll just have to remember.
a 少年（しょうねん）＝ Boy
- Combo: 少 (few) + 年 (year)
- Meaning: Someone who has few years is just a boy. You’ll also see 少年マンガ (these are the manga targeted to younger boys).
- Reading: The on’yomi readings of the kanji.
a 半年（はんとし）＝ Half Year
- Combo: 半 (half) + 年 (year)
- Meaning: Pretty self explanatory.
- Reading: The kun’yomi readings of the kanji, for some reason.
a 去年（きょねん）＝ Last Year
- Combo: 去 (past) + 年 (year)
- Meaning: The past year is last year.
- Reading: The on’yomi readings of the kanji.
Notes
That was a ton of words – do your best to remember them all. Go through them again, one more time, if you don’t mind. It’ll help you to remember and recall a few more later on, once you start getting tested on them. Obviously, 年 is going to show up a lot, since dates and years are important things. So, you’ll see this quite a bit, which means you’ll end up learning these eventually, mostly through practice and usage.