歳

See also: 歲 and 岁

歳 U+6B73, 歳 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-6B73 ← 歲 [U+6B72] CJK Unified Ideographs 歴 → [U+6B74]

Translingual

Traditional	歲
Shinjitai	歳
Simplified	岁

Han character

歳 (Kangxi radical 77, 止+9, 13 strokes, cangjie input 卜一戈竹火 (YMIHF), composition ⿱止⿵戌小 or ⿱止⿵戊𡭕)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: not present, would follow page 577, character 7
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 16326
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): not present, would follow volume 2, page 1443, character 20
• Unihan data for U+6B73

Chinese

For pronunciation and definitions of 歳 – see 歲 (“Jupiter; year; etc.”). (This character is a variant form of 歲).

Japanese

Kanji

See also:

Category:Japanese terms spelled with 歳

歳

(Jōyō kanji)

1. year

Readings

• Go-on: さい (sai, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: せい (sei, Jōyō ^†)
• Kun: とし (toshi, 歳)、とせ (tose, 歳)、よわい (yowai, 歳)

Usage notes

Often abbreviated to much simpler 才, for example in 何才 (“how old?”), or １才 (“1 year old”), as opposed to 何歳 (“how old?”), １歳 (“1 year old”). The phrase "twenty years old" (二十歳) uses jukujikun reading and pronounced はたち (hatachi) using the tradition Japanese counter tsu/chi. Similar native-Japanese readings for “thirty years old” and beyond also occur more rarely.

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
歳
とし Grade: S
kun'yomi

Alternative spelling
歲 (kyūjitai)

For pronunciation and definitions of 歳 – see the following entry.

【とし】 [noun] (obsolete) grain, particularly rice [noun] (obsolete) a grain harvest, a grain crop [noun] a year [noun] age [noun] (specifically) used to describe the age of someone who should not do things inappropriate for their age Alternative spelling 年

(This term, 歳, is an alternative spelling of the above term.)

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
歳
さい Grade: S
on'yomi

Alternative spellings
歲 (kyūjitai) 才

From Middle Chinese 歳. First attested in Japanese in the early 800s.^[1]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [sa̠i]

Suffix

歳(さい) or 歳(サイ) • (-sai) 

1. [from early 800s] -year-old

   十四(じゅうよん)歳(さい)

   jūyon sai

   fourteen years old

References

1. “歳”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎ (in Japanese), concise edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2006