Etymology

year

Y4E1A1R1

Today it means: A period of time akin to the time taken for the Earth to undergo a full cycle of seasons. Full definition →

Middle English yeer ← Old English ġēar ← Proto-West Germanic *jār
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*(H)yeh₁-der.?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*yóh₁r̥
  3. Proto-Germanic*jērą
  4. Proto-West Germanic*jār
  5. Old Englishġēar
  6. Middle Englishyeer
  7. English todayyear

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. Cognates Cognate with Scots year (“year”), North Frisian djooar, iir, Jaar, jeer, juar, jäär (“year”), Saterland Frisian Jíer (“year”), West Frisian jier (“year”), Bavarian Joahr, Jåar, Jåhr (“year”), Cimbrian djar, jaar (“year”), Dutch jaar (“year”), German Jahr (“year”), Limburgish jaor, Johr, Joër (“year”), Low German Johr, Jåhr (“year”), Luxembourgish Joer (“year”), Mòcheno jor (“year”), Swabian Johr (“year”), Vilamovian jür (“year”), West Flemish joar (“year”), Yiddish יאָר (yor), יאָהר (yohr, “year”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish år (“year”), Faroese and Icelandic ár (“year”), Gothic 𐌾𐌴𐍂 (jēr, “year”).

Words from the same roots

Old Englishġēar all →

Proto-Germanic*jērą all →

yore

Proto-Indo-European*yóh₁r̥ all →

hourHerculesleap year

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.