去年
qù nián · HSK 1
last year
📅 去 (go/past) + 年 (year) = the year that has gone = last year
去 means to go away or depart, and by extension the past. 年 is year. So 去年 literally reads as the gone year, i.e. last year. Compare 去 in 过去 (past) and 年 in 今年 (this year).
去 — 土 earth on top + 厶 (originally 凵, a vessel/container) below
Originally a pictograph showing a person (大) departing from an enclosed area or vessel, suggesting leaving or going away. Over time the top simplified to 土 and the bottom to 厶. The core meaning 'to go, to leave, to depart' has remained stable since ancient Chinese.
年 — grain 禾 over person 人 (oracle bone)
Originally a pictograph of a person carrying a bundle of harvested grain on their back, representing the yearly grain harvest. Because harvests came once a year, the character shifted from meaning 'harvest' to meaning 'year.' The modern form 年 obscures the original 禾 (grain) + 人 (person) structure.