Etymology

yard

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Today it means: A small, usually uncultivated area adjoining or (now especially) within the precincts of a house or other building. Full definition →

Middle English yerd ← Old English ġeard ← Proto-West Germanic *gard
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yard · noun, verb1

  1. Proto-Indo-European*gʰerdʰ-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*gʰórdʰos
  3. Proto-Germanic*gardaz
  4. Proto-West Germanic*gard
  5. Old Englishġeard
  6. Middle Englishyerd
  7. English todayyard

From Middle English yerd, yard, ȝerd, ȝeard, from Old English ġeard (“yard, garden, fence, enclosure”), from Proto-West Germanic *gard, from Proto-Germanic *gardaz (“enclosure, yard”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰórdʰos, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰerdʰ- (“to enclose”). See also North Frisian guard, Guart (“garden, yard”), Dutch gaard, gaarde (“garden, yard”), German Garten (“garden, yard”), Danish, Swedish gård (“farm, estate, land; court, yard”), Faroese, Icelandic garður (“garden; fence”), Norn gart (“farm”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk gard, gård (“farm; townhouse”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍂𐌳𐍃 (gards, “court, yard; house”), Lithuanian gardas (“pen, enclosure”), Russian го́род (górod, “town”), Serbo-Croatian grad (“town”), Slovene grad (“castle”), Albanian gardh (“fence”), Romanian gard (“fence”), Avestan 𐬔𐬆𐬭𐬆𐬛𐬵𐬀 (gərədha, “dev's cave”), Sanskrit गृह (gṛha, “house, habitation, home, dwelling”)), Medieval Latin gardinus, jardinus (“garden, yard”). Doublet of garden, garth, and gord.

yard · noun, verb2

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*gazdaz
  2. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*gaʀd
  3. Old English · derived fromġierd“branch; rod, staff; measuring stick; yardland”
  4. Middle English · inherited fromyerde
  5. English todayyard

From Middle English yerde, yerd, ȝerde, from Old English ġierd (“branch; rod, staff; measuring stick; yardland”), from Proto-West Germanic *gaʀd, from Proto-Germanic *gazdaz. Cognate with Dutch gard (“twig”), German Gerte and probably related to Latin hasta (“spear”).

yard · noun3

  1. Proto-Indo-European*sem-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*sm̥-
  3. Proto-Indo-European*smih₂
  4. Proto-Indo-European*ǵʰes-
  5. Proto-Indo-European*ǵʰéslom
  6. Proto-Indo-European*ǵʰéslih₂
  7. Proto-Indo-European*smih₂ǵʰéslih₂
  8. Proto-Italic*smīɣeslī
  9. Latinmīlle
  10. Italianmille
  11. Italianmilione
  12. Old Frenchmillion
  13. Middle Frenchmillion
  14. Frenchmillion
  15. Proto-Indo-European*kret-der.?
  16. Proto-Germanic*harduz
  17. Middle French[Term?]
  18. Frenchmilliard
  19. Englishmilliardclip.
  20. English todayyard

Clipping of milliard.

Words from the same roots

Middle Englishyerd all →

yerd

Old Englishġeard all →

Holmyard

Proto-Germanic*gardaz all →

garth

Proto-Indo-European*gʰerdʰ- all →

girthurbanegird

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.