年画
niánhuà · HSK 7
New Year picture
🎨 年画 = 年 (year) + 画 (painting): the decorative paintings hung up for New Year
年 means year and 画 means painting or picture. Together 年画 are the woodblock prints and paintings traditionally pasted on doors and walls for the Lunar New Year.
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.
画 — hand 一 + field 田 + frame 凵
Originally a pictograph of a hand holding a brush drawing boundaries around a field, depicting the act of marking out land. The top once showed a brush (聿), and 田 represents the field being divided. Over time it came to mean 'to draw, paint' and also 'a stroke' in characters.