Word
同い年
Meaning in Englishof the same age
Animated kanji stroke order
Sentence
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Word context
What it means
同い年 means a person who is the same age as another, i.e., someone born in the same year.
Main meanings
- Denotes that two or more people share the same birth year, hence the same age
- Used to describe a person who is the same age as someone else, typically with の to form 同い年の人
- Conveys equality in age without implying any formal relationship or hierarchy
How to use it
Used in casual and neutral contexts to describe peers or to categorize people by age in social settings; typically modifies a following noun with の, as in 同い年の人; focuses on age equality rather than status or relationship.
Variants and close terms
- 同年齢 (どうねんれい) — same age
- 同年代 (どうねんだい) — same generation
- 年上 / 年下 (ねんじょう / ねんした) — older or younger
Composition
- 同: sameness
- 年: year or age
- い: adjective-like suffix forming the compound
Etymology
同い (onai) + 年 (toshi) combine to form onai-doshi, the compound meaning same age; 同い acts as a base meaning same, while 年 supplies the age context; the whole is read onai-doshi
Word class
Noun (名詞)
Word
Related words by kanji and components
N3
少年
shounen
boy, juvenile boy
N3
青年
seinen
youth, young adult, young man
N3
生年月日
seinengappi
birth date
N3
共同
kyoudou
cooperation, collaboration, joint work
N3
年度
nendo
fiscal year, academic year
N3
同一
douitsu
identity, sameness, similarity
N3
同時
douji
simultaneous(ly), same time
N3
同様
douyou
identical, same (kind), like
N3
同僚
douryou
colleague; co-worker
Kanji