Dictionary › 虚岁

虚岁

xū suì

2-character word Traditional 虛歲

What 虚岁 means

1. one's age, according to the traditional Chinese method of reckoning (i.e. the number of Chinese calendar years in which one has lived) – In this system, a person's age at birth is one, and increases by one at the beginning of the first solar term {立春|Lì chūn} each year, rather than on one's birthday.
2. contrasted with {实岁|shí suì}

The characters in 虚岁

• 虚xūemptiness; void; abstract theory or guiding principles
• 岁suìclassifier for years (of age); year; year (of crop harvests)

Example sentences

• 他虚岁三十七岁。
  According to East Asian reckoning, he's thirty-seven.