去年
きょねん · kyonen · JLPT N5 · noun
year
📅 去年 = gone (去) + year (年): the year that has gone
去 means to leave or go away, and 年 means year, so 去年 is literally the departed year. The reading kyo-nen pairs kyo (also in 過去 kako, the past) with nen, the standard reading of year as in 今年 kotoshi's cousin 来年 rainen, next 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.