岁数
suì shu · HSK 6
age (number of years old)
🎂🔢 suì shu sounds like SWEET SHOE — count the candles on each birthday
岁 (suì) means year-of-age, 数 (shù) means number. Together they literally mean age-number. The pun: say SWEET SHOE fast and you get suì shu — link it to counting birthday candles on a cake shaped like a shoe.
岁 — mountain 山 on top + 夕 evening below
Originally written 歲, depicting the planet Jupiter (歲星) whose roughly 12-year orbit was used to mark years; the character combined 步 (step) with 戌. The simplified form 岁 replaces the complex body with 山 over 夕. Its core meaning is 'year' or 'years of age'.
数 — 婁 (lóu, phonetic) + 攵 (action radical)
数 is a phono-semantic compound. The right side 攵 (a hand holding a stick) suggests an action, originally tallying or counting by striking marks. The left side 婁 supplies the sound. Over time the meaning broadened from 'to count' to 'number' and 'several'.