year · age

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 歳 has 13 strokes and denotes age or passing years.
• Basic usage: 二十歳 is read はたち, and 歳月 is read さいげつ.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• The whole-word reading for age twenty
  • 二十歳 is read as the whole word はたち.
  • 二十歳のころ means around the age of twenty, indicating an approximate period centered on that age.
• The passage of years
  • 長い歳月をかけて means over a long span of years.
  • 十年の歳月が流れた means that ten years passed.