来年
らいねん · rainen · JLPT N5 · noun
year
📅 来年 = come (来) + year (年): the year that is coming
来 means come and 年 means year, so 来年 is literally the coming year. The same 来 appears in 来週 (raishuu, next week) and 来月 (raigetsu, next month), so rai- reliably marks the next unit of time.
来 — pictograph of a wheat plant with grain heads
来 originally depicted a stalk of wheat with drooping grain heads, and meant 'wheat' in oracle bone script. It was later borrowed phonetically to write the unrelated verb 'to come,' which became its dominant meaning. The original 'wheat' sense was taken over by 麥 (now 麦).
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.