岁 (suì): years old

Meanings

1 years old
2 year (of age)

Characters

岁

suì

year of age; years old

Examples

你几岁了？

Nǐ jǐ suì le?

How old are you?

我今年二十岁。

Wǒ jīnnián èrshí suì.

I am twenty years old this year.

他的孩子三岁了。

Tā de háizi sān suì le.

His child is three years old.

Tips

grammar

几岁 is used to ask children's ages (under ~10). For older people, use 多大.

culture

In traditional Chinese age counting, a baby is already 1 岁 at birth and gains a year at each Lunar New Year, not at their birthday. This is called 虚岁.

Components

radical

山 shān

mountain (radical)

Top radical 山 — three peaks, the indexing radical for 岁. The traditional form 歲 had a much more elaborate body (戊+步) picturing harvests circling round a year; the simplified 岁 trades that for 山 stacked above 夕. The radical assignment is graphic rather than semantic, but it does anchor 岁 visually in the 山-family.

semantic

夕 xī

evening; moon (semantic)

Bottom 夕 — a half-moon, the picture of evening. Together with 山 above the image is 'evening over the mountains', the close of another day, another year. Same component drives 多 (many evenings), 名 (name called at dusk), 梦 (dream at night).