Meaning of 中年
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- middle age
How to use 中年
中年 is used for people roughly in their forties and fifties, and it often appears before a noun, as in 中年人 (zhōngniánrén) middle-aged person. Example: 他是一个中年人。(Tā shì yí ge zhōngniánrén.) He is a middle-aged man.
中 (zhōng) means middle, and 年 (nián) means year. Put them together and you get the middle years of life, which is middle age.
Common mistake: Learners sometimes mix up 中年 (zhōngnián) with 中午 (zhōngwǔ) noon, because 年 and 午 look similar at the top. Also keep 中 in the first tone here; it is only fourth tone (zhòng) in words like 中奖 (zhòngjiǎng).
中年 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
中 zhōng · within · 4 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
年 nián · year · 6 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
Related words
Words that share a character with 中年.
| 中国 | Zhōngguó | China |
| 今年 | jīnnián | this year |
| 去年 | qùnián | last year |
| 中间 | zhōngjiān | the middle; the inside; in the middle; within; between; among |
| 中午 | zhōngwǔ | noon; midday |
| 明年 | míngnián | next year |
| 中学 | zhōngxué | middle school |
| 半年 | bàn nián | half a year |
| 新年 | xīnnián | New Year |
| 中文 | Zhōngwén | Chinese language |
| 中学生 | zhōngxuéshēng | middle-school student; high school student |
| 其中 | qízhōng | among; in |
Questions about 中年
What does 中年 mean?
中年 (zhōngnián) means "middle age" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 中年?
中年 is made of 2 characters: 中 (4 strokes), 年 (6 strokes). That is 10 strokes in total.
Is 中年 an HSK word?
Yes. 中年 is on the HSK 2 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
What are the words for young people and old people that go with 中年?
Young people are 青年 (qīngnián) and old people are 老年 (lǎonián). Together with 中年 they form a common set describing stages of life.
Can I use 中年 to describe a person directly, like an adjective?
Usually you put it before a noun, as in 中年男人 (zhōngnián nánrén) middle-aged man, or say 人到中年 (rén dào zhōngnián) a person reaching middle age. Saying 他很中年 sounds unnatural in standard speech.