多年
duōnián · HSK 4
for many years
📅 多 (many) + 年 (year) = many years
Straight compound: 多 means many/much, 年 means year. Together 多年 literally reads as many-years, used for spans like for many years or over the years.
多 — two 夕 (evening) stacked
多 originally depicted two pieces of meat (夕, a variant of 肉) stacked together, suggesting abundance. Over time it was reanalyzed as two 'evenings' piled up — many evenings meaning many days, hence 'many, much'. The doubling itself conveys quantity.
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.