What does the kanji 年 mean?

The kanji 年 (toshi) means "year, counter for years". It is a JLPT N5 character.

What kanji is "toshi"?

"toshi" is written with the kanji 年, meaning "year, counter for years". Its readings are onyomi (Chinese-derived) ねん (nen), kunyomi (native Japanese) とし (toshi). It is a JLPT N5 character.

How do you write the kanji 年?

Write 年 ("year") by following the correct stroke order. Use the interactive, step-by-step stroke order animation on this page to practise each stroke in sequence and build muscle memory.

What are the readings of 年?

年 has these readings: onyomi (Chinese-derived) ねん (nen), kunyomi (native Japanese) とし (toshi).

年“year” Kanjitoshi / nen

JLPT N5

How to write 年

年 (year) kanji stroke order diagram with numbered strokes

Meaning and readings

Meaning

year, counter for years

Onyomi (音読み)

ねん nen

Chinese reading

Kunyomi (訓読み)

とし toshi

Japanese reading

Practice 年 on paper — a printable tracing grid with stroke order

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Example sentences using 年

Human-reviewed sentence pairs from the Tatoeba corpus, with readings shown above the kanji.

今年ことしはできるだけたくさん本ほんを読よむつもりです。
I'm planning to read as many books as I can this year.
今年 (ことし)
JP#171343bytommy_sanEN#243132byCKCC BY 2.0 FR Tatoeba Project
そのソフトは半年はんとし前まえにリリースされたよ。
That software was released six months ago.
半年 (はんとし)
JP#11009569bysmall_snowEN#11014606byCKCC BY 2.0 FR Tatoeba Project
来年らいねんの１０月じゅうがつで、トムは３０になるんだ。
Tom is going to be thirty next October.
来年 (らいねん)
JP#11469088bybunbukuEN#6435317byCKCC BY 2.0 FR Tatoeba Project

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Read 年 in a story

Short Japanese comics written so that every word in them is JLPT N5. One of them teaches this character — the match is on the words an episode teaches, not every character in its dialogue.