岁 (suì): years old, classifier for years (of age), year

岁 (suì) is a Chinese character meaning “years old.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 山 (structural) and 夕 (structural). It ranks #772 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. years old
  2. classifier for years (of age)
  3. year

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6

Practice writing 岁 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 岁

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
岁月nounsuì yuèyears6
岁数nounsuì shuage (number of years old)6
压岁钱nounyā suì qiánmoney given to children as a gift on Chinese New Year's Eve5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
万岁verbwàn suìLong live (the king, the revolution etc)!
长命百岁cháng mìng bǎi suì(idiom) to live to be a hundred years old (often used as a blessing or wish for longevity)
年岁nounnián suìyears of age
周岁nounzhōu suìone full year (e.g. on child's first birthday)
太岁proper-nountài suìTai Sui, God of the year
同岁tóng suìto be the same age
峥嵘岁月phrasezhēng róng suì yuèeventful years (idiom)
岁末nounsuì mòend of the year
贺岁verbhè suìto extend New Year's greetings
岁暮nounsuì mùend of the year
岁不我与phrasesuì bù wǒ yǔTime and tide wait for no man (idiom)
百岁老人bǎi suì lǎo réncentenarian
岁月如流suì yuè rú liúthe passage of the years
岁时nounsuì shíseason
岁出nounsuì chūannual expenditure
51
Total compounds
45
As first character
47
As last character
8
As middle character

岁 appears in 51 compound words: 45 as the first character, 47 as the last, and 8 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 岁 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

毙bì
0.48557 co-occurrences
贺hè
0.4832,474 co-occurrences
逝shì
0.47967 co-occurrences
溺nì
0.47830 co-occurrences
龄líng
0.4542,945 co-occurrences
时shí
0.45329,260 co-occurrences
虚xū
0.4462,092 co-occurrences
仅jǐn
0.4405,252 co-occurrences
鲤lǐ
0.43419 co-occurrences
十shí
0.41923,420 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (8)

日久岁深rì jiǔ suì shēnHSK 4+

(idiom) for a long period of time; for a number of years

phrase
岁不我与suìbùwǒyǔHSK 4+

to have missed an opportunity; time and tide wait for no man

phrase
岁岁平安suì suì píng ānHSK 3+

May you have peace year after year (New Year's greeting)

phrase
岁月如流suì yuè rú liúHSK 4+

the passage of the years; the flow of time

phrase
岁月如梭suìyuèrúsuōHSK 7+

time flies

phrase
长命百岁cháng mìng bǎi suìHSK 4+

(idiom) to live to be a hundred years old (often used as a blessing or wish for longevity)

phrase
岁月峥嵘suì yuè zhēng róngHSK 1+

eventful years; momentous times

phrase
峥嵘岁月zhēngróngsuìyuèHSK 1+

extraordinary years; extraordinary days

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

岁字在不同的语境中有不同的用法。

suì zì zài bù tóng de yǔ jìng zhōng yǒu bù tóng de yòng fǎ .

The character "岁" has different usages in different contexts.

News For ChineseFeb 2026

“民歌50”唱进湾区,共赴岁月的约定

mín gē 5 0 chàng jìn wān qū , gòng fù suì yuè de yuē dìng

"Folk Song 50" sung into the Bay Area and went to the agreement of the years

Hk01.comFeb 2026

...A官方公布鼓手真矢不敌病情离世 终年56岁

. . . A guān fāng gōng bù gǔ shǒu zhēn shǐ bù dí bìng qíng lí shì zhōng nián 5 6 suì

... A official announcement drummer Maya passed away at the age of 56

WorldjournalFeb 2026

搭完邮轮有“离船症候群”?30-60岁女性最常见

dā wán yóu lún yǒu lí chuán zhèng hòu qún ? 3 0 6 0 suì nǚ xìng zuì cháng jiàn

After a cruise, "disembarkation syndrome" is most common among women aged 30-60

EttodayFeb 2026

快讯/闯入川普海湖庄园遭击毙 21岁嫌身分曝光!家人才刚报失踪

kuài xùn chuǎng rù chuān pǔ hǎi hú zhuāng yuán zāo jī bì 2 1 suì xián shēn fēn pù guāng ! jiā rén cái gāng bào shī zōng

News/Breaking into Trump's Mar-a-Lago was killed and the identity of the 21-year-old suspect was exposed! The family has just been reported missing

百度新闻Feb 2026

2026贺岁图|初四:接灶迎新

2 0 2 6 hè suì tú chū sì : jiē zào yíng xīn

2026 Chinese New Year Picture|Fourth: Welcome the new year

Tatoeba

你几岁交了第一个女朋友?

Nǐ jǐsuì jiāo le dìyī gè nǚpéngyou?

At what age did you have your first girlfriend?

Tatoeba

你知道中野小姐几岁吗?

Nǐ zhīdào Zhōngyě xiǎojie jǐ suì ma?

Do you know how old Miss Nakano is?

Tatoeba

您父母多大岁数了?

Nín fùmǔ duōdà suìshu le?

How old are your parents?

Tatoeba

你想到几岁才结婚呢?

Nǐ xiǎng dào jǐ suì cái jiéhūn ne?

At what age do you want to get married?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced suì

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 岁 (suì) mean in Chinese?
岁 (suì) primarily means "years old." It is classified as HSK Level 1, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #772 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 岁 have?
岁 is written with 6 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 岁?
The radical associated with 岁 is 山 (mountain). This radical appears in many characters related to mountain.
What are the components of 岁?
岁 is composed of: 山 (structural), 夕 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱山夕 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 岁?
Common words with 岁 include: 万岁 (wàn suì, "Long live (the king, the revolution etc)!"); 岁月 (suì yuè, "years"); 岁数 (suì shu, "age (number of years old)"); 长命百岁 (cháng mìng bǎi suì, "(idiom) to live to be a hundred years old (often used as a blessing or wish for longevity)"); 年岁 (nián suì, "years of age"). There are over 51 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 岁 (suì)?
Several characters share the pronunciation suì: 随 (to follow), 虽 (although), 碎 (broken), 遂 (to satisfy), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 岁 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 岁 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 岁 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.