The kanji 歳 primarily means "year" or "age." It indicates the duration of time that has passed or a person's age. It can refer to the annual cycle of the Earth around the sun or a specific point in time within that cycle.

・On-yomi (音読み): サイ (sai) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): とし (toshi)

⚫︎ 年齢（ねんれい） Translation: Age ⚫︎ 二十歳（はたち） Translation: Twenty years old (20 years of age) ⚫︎ 今年（ことし）歳 Translation: This year

The kanji 歳 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字, けいせいいもじ). The left side is a radical called 彳, meaning "walk". The right side is 戌, representing the zodiac sign for the dog, indicating a specific point in time. Combining these components, 歳 originally signified "a year" or "time." The original form of the character might have also depicted a tool used to harvest grain, and thus, was linked to the annual cycle of harvest and the passage of time. The radical 彳was later added to clarify the meaning.