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年月 (toshitsuki) Japanese meaning: months and years | Kotomora
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How quickly the months and years go by.
This technology has developed over many years.
Usage patterns 〈 事こと 〉 に 長なが い 年とし 月つき がかかる for something to take a long span of years
That research took many years to complete.
年とし 月つき が 経た つ for years/time to pass
Many years have passed since that accident.
長なが い 年とし 月つき をかけて 〈 動どう 詞し 〉 to do something over the course of many years
He built the castle over many long years.
Related words 歳月 is a more literary and formal word for the passage of time, while 年月 is the everyday word for the same idea.
月日 and 年月 both mean 'the passage of time,' but 月日 slightly emphasizes the flow of days and months while 年月 emphasizes the accumulation of years.
年数 refers concretely to a countable number of years, while 年月 emphasizes the abstract duration or weight of time passing.
Don't confuse with 年月日 means a specific calendar date (year, month, day), while 年月 means the passage or span of time itself.
Etymology Compound of 年 (year) and 月 (month), literally 'years and months'. The reading としつき uses the native Japanese readings, while ねんげつ uses the Sino-Japanese readings.
