年月
としつき · toshitsuki · JLPT N3 · noun
old age
📅🌙 年月 = year (toshi) + moon/month (tsuki): years and moons gone by
年 (toshi) means year and 月 (tsuki) means moon or month, so the compound literally reads year-moon. It's a literary word for a long stretch of time, as in 長い年月 (nagai toshitsuki), many long years.
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.
月 — pictograph of crescent moon
月 is a pictograph of a crescent moon, chosen over a full circle to distinguish it from 日 (sun). The inner strokes originally depicted the moon's shadow or markings. As a radical it often relates to the moon, time, or (via a lookalike form of 肉 'flesh') body parts.
ねんげつ · nengetsu · JLPT N3 · noun
old age
📅 年月 = year + month: the years and months that pass
年 (nen) means year and 月 (getsu) means month. Put together, they mean a long stretch of time, as in 長い年月 (nagai nengetsu), many long years. Note that 月 is read getsu here, not tsuki.
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.
月 — pictograph of crescent moon
月 is a pictograph of a crescent moon, chosen over a full circle to distinguish it from 日 (sun). The inner strokes originally depicted the moon's shadow or markings. As a radical it often relates to the moon, time, or (via a lookalike form of 肉 'flesh') body parts.