晩年
ばんねん · bannen · JLPT N1 · noun
days
⏳ 晩 (late) + 年 (year) = the late years of a life; 晩 also means evening
Life's evening: 晩 is the evening of a day, and 年 is a year, so 晩年 is the evening years of a life. The same 晩 appears in 晩ご飯 (dinner, the evening meal).
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.