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There are one-character words for "old", "love," "book," and many more important concepts. Why is 青年 the way to say "young" and not a one-word character?

Crashalot
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  • distinguish between attributive and predicative use, but even in the predicative case "young" can correspond to single character word: 很老了 be very old, 还很小 be still very young, see jukuu for "old,young" in many different situations – user6065 Jul 24 '17 at 20:28
  • Someone has already pointed out that this isn't true. However, even if it were the case, why would it matter? – Stumpy Joe Pete Jul 24 '17 at 22:29
  • @StumpyJoePete is curiosity not the foundation for learning? – Crashalot Jul 24 '17 at 22:54
  • @user6065 so 小 is the right way to say "young" not 青年? – Crashalot Jul 24 '17 at 22:56
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    青年 means "(a) youth". 年轻 means "young". 小 or 少 can also mean "young", but if you want to be unambiguous and use the word on its own, then use 年轻. In terms of "curiosity", I'm asking why one would care about how many morphemes are in a particular word. Knowing the answer will not reveal any deep truths about Chinese culture or thought, if that's what you're looking for. – Stumpy Joe Pete Jul 24 '17 at 23:21
  • answering c#5, it depends 还很小 is of restricted use, applying to living organisms at an early stage of development (animals incl. humans, plants), anyhow C has different ways of expressing young or advanced age from E, look for instructional material on this issue at C lang sites (often involving 岁数、年纪、年龄（age) which can be （还，不）小（了），大，轻、轻轻、people can be 上了岁，younger/older than 比。。。小／大， – user6065 Jul 25 '17 at 00:33
  • @StumpyJoePete 青年 means "young" according to the comments in the accepted answer and this dictionary: http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/words/7061/. also google translate: https://translate.google.com/#zh-CN/en/%E5%B9%B4%E9%9D%92. which reference for 青年 are you using? – Crashalot Jul 25 '17 at 05:37
  • Here's an example. Maybe you can use it as an adjective, but I've only ever seen it as a noun. Any textbook for learning mandarin will give 年轻 as the adjective "young". – Stumpy Joe Pete Jul 25 '17 at 05:54

1 Answers1

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It does. 少 means young. See 少不更事

There are also 幼 for children and 老 for old( you already know). 孟子 said: 老吾老以及人之老,幼吾幼以及人之幼

Archeosudoerus
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  • thanks for the answer! 青年 is not the right way to say "young"? – Crashalot Jul 24 '17 at 22:57
  • Of course it is! 青年 is more widely used nowadays while 少 as a single character form of young were used in the past. Nowadays 少 is more seen as part of 少年 which also means young. But to be more precise 少年 is a little younger than 青年. – Archeosudoerus Jul 25 '17 at 04:53
  • thanks for the clarification. any clues why the language evolved toward 青年 and away from 少? – Crashalot Jul 25 '17 at 05:34
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    Actually, 青年refers to teenagers and young people. – hsiaoyang Jul 25 '17 at 07:56
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    @Crashalot you are asking an interesting question, it's actually related to how Chinese language evolves from monosyllabic to disyllabic over time. As a native speaker who loves ancient classic literature , I'm also interested in this topic, there is a great answer here at stackexchange already, please refer to this one: https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/3820/reasons-for-chinese-changing-from-monosyllabic-to-disyllabic – Archeosudoerus Jul 25 '17 at 15:59
  • 少壯 vs. 老弱. It is very clear – Tang Ho Jul 26 '17 at 21:21