年
とし · toshi · JLPT N5 · noun
year
📅🎂 toshi: each birthday you TOSS a year onto your age
年 read とし (toshi) is the native Japanese word covering both year and age, as in toshi o toru = to take on years, to grow older. The same kanji is read ねん (nen) in compounds like 今年 and 来年.
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.