age
HSK level
年龄 is written with 19 strokes (年: 6, 龄: 13). The animation replays automatically.
年龄 (niánlíng) is the noun meaning 'age' — the number of years a person, animal, or thing has existed.
It is the standard term on forms, in medical and legal contexts, and in any sentence that treats age as a measurable attribute, such as 年龄段 (age group) or 平均年龄 (average age). A crucial difference from English: you do NOT normally use 年龄 to ask someone's age in conversation. English 'What is your age?' maps to 年龄, but Chinese speakers ask 你多大? (adults), 你几岁?
(children), or 您多大年纪? (elders) instead. 年龄 is the abstract noun, not the conversational question. Note it is a state/attribute noun, so you say 年龄大 ('old in age') or 年龄小 ('young'), using 大/小 rather than 老/年轻 which describe the person directly.
Note: 年龄 is the neutral noun for 'age' used in questions, forms, and statistics. In casual speech, people often just ask 你多大 (nǐ duō dà, 'how old are you') rather than using the word 年龄 directly.
Character by character
Memory hook: 年 (year) + 龄 (which itself contains 齿 'teeth' — traditionally you counted an animal's age by its teeth). Years counted = age.
请在这里填写你的姓名和年龄。
Qǐng zài zhèlǐ tiánxiě nǐ de xìngmíng hé niánlíng.
Please fill in your name and age here.
neutral
他们两个人的年龄差不多。
Tāmen liǎng ge rén de niánlíng chàbuduō.
The two of them are about the same age.
spoken
这个游戏对年龄有限制。
Zhège yóuxì duì niánlíng yǒu xiànzhì.
This game has an age restriction.
neutral
随着年龄的增长，他变得更加成熟。
Suízhe niánlíng de zēngzhǎng, tā biàn de gèngjiā chéngshú.
As he grew older, he became more mature.
written
年纪 and 年龄 both mean 'age,' but 年纪 is warmer and more spoken, and it also implies 'seniority' — 上了年纪 means 'getting on in years.' 年龄 is more neutral and technical (forms, data). Ask an elder 您多大年纪; write 年龄 on a survey.
Acquire it by listening
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