往年

wǎngnián

noun HSK 6 #24,029

Meanings

Past years — referring to previous years as a pattern.

Jīnnián de dōngtiān bǐ wǎngnián lěng.

This winter is colder than in previous years.

Wǎngnián zhège shíhou yīnghuā yǐjīng kāi le.

In previous years, the cherry blossoms had already bloomed by this time.

Hé wǎngnián xiāngbǐ, jīnnián de xiāoliàng zēngzhǎng le bǎi fēn zhī èrshí.

Compared to previous years, this year's sales grew by twenty percent.

usage

往年 implies a repeated pattern over past years, not just one previous year. It's often used with 比 (compared to) or 和...相比.

往 wǎng

年 nián