Word
年輪
Meaning in Englishannual tree ring
Animated kanji stroke order
Sentence
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Word context
What it means
年輪 denotes the rings inside a tree trunk that reveal its age and history of growth, and it also appears in figurative use to describe the passage of years and accumulated life experience.
Main meanings
- Literal meaning: the rings in a tree trunk that encode age and past growth conditions.
- Metaphorical nuance: describes the accumulation of time and experiences over a life.
- Contextual usage: common in forestry, dendrochronology, nature writing, and discussions of aging.
How to use it
In scientific and formal writing about trees, 年輪 refers to the actual growth rings; in forestry and dendrochronology it denotes annual increments and growth patterns; in literature and everyday speech it also appears in metaphoric expressions like 年輪を重ねる.
Variants and close terms
- 樹齢 — じゅれい, tree age
- 木の年輪 — ねんりん, tree rings
Composition
- 年 — year, annual
- 輪 — ring, circle
- Together they form 年輪, signaling annual growth rings that document a tree's age and growth history.
Etymology
ねんりん (nenrin) is a compound of 年 and 輪; the on'yomi readings nen and rin fuse to yield this pronunciation, illustrating a phonetic fusion in kanji compounds.
Word class
Noun (名詞)
Word
Related words by kanji and components
N1
年頃
toshigoro
age, marriageable age, adolescence
N1
年賀
nenga
New Year's greetings, New Year's card
N1
年号
nengou
name of an era, year number
N1
年長
nenchou
seniority
N1
同い年
onaidoshi
of the same age
N1
元年
gannen
first year (of a specific reign)
N1
首輪
kubiwa
necklace, choker
N1
定年
teinen
retirement age
N1
晩年
bannen
(one's) last years
Kanji