Taon

Taon is a Tagalog noun meaning year, the basic unit of time used in calendars and in expressions of duration and age. It is used with numbers to indicate spans of time: isang taon (one year), dalawang taon (two years). For age, Filipino speakers commonly form phrases such as limang taong gulang (five years old), where the base noun ta on combines with the numeral and the linker form -ng to create ta ong in compound age constructions. The reduplicated form taon-taon means yearly or annually and is used for events that recur each year.

In addition to its literal time sense, taon appears in various idiomatic expressions and set phrases related to calendars, anniversaries, and historical references within Filipino contexts. The word is one of many time-related terms shared across Austronesian languages, reflecting historical linguistic connections in the region.

Etymology and cognates: Taon has cognates in Malay and Indonesian, where the word is tahun, both with the same general meaning of year. These terms are generally traced to a common Austronesian ancestor, with phonological and lexical developments shaping their current forms in each language.

See also: tahun, the Indonesian/Malay cognate; year, the English counterpart; calendar terms in Austronesian languages.