chronicle · discipline

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 紀 has 9 strokes and appears in words for chronological divisions and records.
• Basic usage: 世紀 is read せいき, and 紀元 is read きげん.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• A time unit and a chronological starting point
  • 二十世紀の初め means the beginning of the twentieth century.
  • 世紀 divides chronology into units of one hundred years.
  • 建国の年を紀元としている means uses the founding year as its epoch.
  • 紀元 is the starting point from which years are counted.