Etimology
From Middle English yeer, yere, from Old English ġēar (“year”), from Proto-West Germanic *jār, from Proto-Germanic *jērą (“year”), from Proto-Indo-European *yóh₁r̥ (“year, spring”). Doublet of hora and hour.
noun
year (plural years)
A period of time akin to the time taken for the Earth to undergo a full cycle of seasons.
(by extension) The time it takes for any astronomical object (such as a planet, dwarf planet, small Solar System body, or comet) in direct orbit around a star (such as the Sun) to make one revolution around the star.
A period between set dates that mark a year, such as from January 1 to December 31 by the Gregorian calendar, from Tishri 1 to Elul 29 by the Jewish calendar, and from Muharram 1 to Dhu al-Hijjah 29 or 30 by the Islamic calendar.
A scheduled part of a calendar year spent in a specific activity.
The proportion of a creature's lifespan equivalent to one year of an average human lifespan (see also dog year).
Examples
we moved to this town a year ago; I quit smoking exactly one year ago
Mars goes around the sun once in a Martian year, or 1.88 Earth years.
Shepard: What can you tell me about the Citadel Council?Avina: Originally, the Council consisted of representatives from the asari and salarians, the two dominant species in Citadel space.Roughly 1,304 galactic standard years ago, turians were invited to join the Council in recognition of the role they played during the Krogan Rebellion.
A normal year has 365 full days, but there are 366 days in a leap year.
I was born in the year 1950.
This Chinese year is the year of the Ox.
Dotcom mania was slow in coming to higher education, but now it has the venerable industry firmly in its grip. Since the launch early last year of Udacity and Coursera, two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations.
During this school year I have to get up at 6:30 to catch the bus.
Every second-year student must select an area of specialization.
The exams in year 12 at high school are the most difficult.
Geneticists have created baker's yeast that can live to 800 in yeast years.
Related words
synonyms
(one revolution of the Sun by the Earth): solar year, equinoctial year, sun, Theban year, twelvemonth, annum
(time to make one revolution by any body): anomalistic year, galactic year, Gaussian year, Great Year, lunar year, Platonic year, sidereal year, Sothic year, tropical year, annum (sci fi)
(period between set dates): calendar year, civil year, legal year
(specific uses): accounting year, base year, dog year, financial year, fiscal year, liturgical year, quality-adjusted life year, school year, tax year
hypernyms
biennium (2 years), triennium (3), quadrennium or olympiad (4), quinquennium or pentad (5), sexennium (6), septennium (7), octaeteris or octennium (8), novennium (9), decennium or decade (10), centennium or century (100), quincentennium (500), kiloyear or millennium (1000), decamillennium (10,000), centimillennium (100,000), millionennium or megayear (1,000,000), gigayear (1,000,000,000)
hyponyms
base year
birthyear
calendar year
civil year
dog year
donkey's years
financial year
fiscal year
gap year
golden years
last year
leap year
legal year
liturgical year
lunar year
mid-year, midyear
school year
sidereal year
solar year
Sothic year
sunset years
tax year
twilight years
year of confusion
year of our Lord
year of our Lord Jesus Christ
yesteryear
noun
year
Pronunciation spelling of here.
Pronunciation spelling of hear.