Definition
天年 has two main uses. The primary meaning is 'natural life span' — the full length of life a person is naturally allotted, often appearing in phrases like 享尽天年 ('live out one's full life'). The second, more literary meaning is 'year's harvest' or 'the year's fortune', used in expressions like 天年不好 ('the year's harvest is poor'). In modern Chinese, the life-span sense is far more common; the harvest sense is mostly found in older or regional speech.
n.
natural life spanone's allotted years(literary) year's harvestfortune of the year
Examples
- ，天年。Tā yìshēng xíng shàn, zuìhòu ān xiǎng tiān nián.He did good deeds all his life and finally enjoyed his natural life span in peace.
- ，天年。Jīnnián fēng tiáo yǔ shùn, tiān nián búcuò.This year the weather has been favorable, so the harvest is good.
- ，天年。Lǎorén huó dào jiǔshí duō suì, suàn shì jìn le tiān nián.The old man lived to over ninety, which can be considered fulfilling his natural life span.
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