Etymology

gigayear

G2I1G2A1Y4E1A1R1

Today it means: A billion years: a thousand million years, that is, a thousand thousand thousand years. Full definition →

English year ← Middle English yeer ← Old English ġēar
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The story

  1. Ancient GreekΓίγας (Gígas)
  2. Ancient Greekγίγας (gígas)
  3. Englishgiga-
  4. Proto-Indo-European*(H)yeh₁-der.?
  5. Proto-Indo-European*yóh₁r̥
  6. Proto-Germanic*jērą
  7. Proto-West Germanic*jār
  8. Old Englishġēar
  9. Middle Englishyeer
  10. Englishyear
  11. English todaygigayear

From giga- + year.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.