evening · late

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 晩 has 12 strokes; 今晩 is read こんばん, and 晩年 is read ばんねん.
• Basic usage: 今晩 means tonight; 晩年 denotes the later or final years of a person's life.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• Tonight and the later years of life
  • 今晩の列車 refers to a train taken or running tonight. Here 今晩 locates something within a day.
  • 晩年に書いた手紙 means letters written in someone's later years. 晩年 identifies a late period of life, rather than the end of a calendar year.