What is the Kanji for "Year" and "Years old"?

If you are wondering what is the Japanese Kanji for "Year" and "Years old", you've come to the right place!

The Japanese Kanji for "Year" and "Years old" is "歳".

This kanji has 2 readings:

Its onyomi readings are "Sei" and "Sai".

kunyomi readings are based on the pronunciation of native Japanese words, and onyomi readings are based on the Chinese pronunciation of the character.

If you visually breakdown this kanji, you can see is made up of 3 parts:

The kanji "止" means "Stop" and can be read as "Ya", "Shi", and "To". The component "戈" . And The kanji "小" means "Small" and can be read as "Chii", "Shou", and "Ko".

Now, let's make sure you understand this kanji the other way around too.

What does the kanji "歳" mean in japanese?

"歳" means "Year" and "Years old".

Japanese School Students learn this kanji in Junior Highschool, while foreigners may learn this kanji in preparation for the JLPT N3 exam.

Here are some words that use this kanji:

歳: "Years old". The Japanese suffix '歳 (さい)' is used to indicate a person's age. It is added to a number to specify someone's age. For example: I am 25 years old - (私は25歳です). He is 35 years old - (彼は35歳です). The suffix '歳' provides a concise way to express a person's age in Japanese.

万歳: "Hurrah". The verbal noun '万歳 (ばんざい)' means 'hurrah'. It is used to express joy, excitement, or celebration. It is often shouted out as an exclamation of praise or approval, such as at events or ceremonies. For example: Let's all say 'hurrah'! - (みんなで万歳を叫びましょう!). Hurrah for the champion! - (チャンピオンに万歳!)

二十歳: "Twenty". The Japanese noun '二十歳(はたち)' refers to someone who is twenty years old. It is commonly used to refer to the coming-of-age ceremony in Japan, where those who have just turned 20 are celebrated as adults. For example: She just turned twenty - (彼女ははたちになりました). I became twenty this year - (今年、私ははたちになりました).

歳末: "Year-end". The Japanese noun '歳末 (さいまつ)' refers to the period at the end of the year, generally including the days right before and after New Year's Eve. This time is associated with various year-end traditions and activities such as New Year's shopping, cleaning, and preparing for the new year. For example: The stores are very busy during the year-end season - (歳末は店が大変忙しい). I need to finish my year-end preparations soon - (歳末の支度をもうすぐ終えなければならない).

お歳暮: "Winter gift" or "Year-end gift". お歳暮 (おせいぼ)' refers to a gift that is given at the end of the year, typically around the new year holiday season. It is a Japanese tradition to give such gifts to family, friends, business associates, and others as a way to express gratitude and maintain social relationships. Examples: I received a winter gift from my boss - (上司からお歳暮をもらった). She sent us a year-end gift - (彼女は年末にお歳暮を送ってくれた).

To make really sure you learn this Kanji, I've prepared an interactive lesson for you. You are going to learn the readings and meanings of this kanji.

But first, you need to know a little bit about Hiragana and Katakana.

Hiragana and katakana are japanese syllabaries, this means that each character represents a syllable.

This are the characters you need to know for this lesson:

The hiragana "せ" is read as "se". The hiragana "い" is read as "i". And The hiragana "さ" is read as "sa".

Heres a quick tutorial on how to use it. You'll be asked three type of questions: meaning, reading, and writing.

For meanings questions all you have to do is type the english meaning. If there is more than one meaning, you have to include them all in your answer separating them by commas (,).

For Reading questions you have to type the reading in romaji (roman letters, our normal alphabet) and it'll be automatically converted to hiragana if necessary. If there is more than one reading, you have to include them all in your answer separating them by commas (,).

For Writing questions some options will appear and all you have to do is select the correct ones.