year

/jɪə/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

British/jɪː/

year noun: a period of time akin to the time taken for the Earth to undergo a full cycle of seasons. Also the pronunciation spelling of here.

Noun

year (plural years or (UK colloquial) year)

A period of time akin to the time taken for the Earth to undergo a full cycle of seasons.
- we moved to this town a year ago; I quit smoking exactly one year ago
Synonyms:

annum
1. The time taken for the Earth to return to the same position along the ecliptic, completing a full cycle of seasons; a tropical year or solar year.
2. The time taken for the Earth to orbit the Sun with respect to the fixed stars; a sidereal year.
3. The length of twelve lunations; the time taken for any moon phase to happen twelve times; a lunar year.
4. The length of a year as marked by a calendar, 365 or 366 days in the Gregorian calendar; a calendar year.
5. The mean length of a calendar year in the Julian calendar, that is, 365.25 solar days; a Julian year.
(broadly) An orbital period: the period of one revolution in any particular orbit: 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.
- 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...2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Citdael
Synonyms:

anomalistic year, galactic year, Gaussian year, Great Year, lunar year, Platonic year, sidereal year, Sothic year, tropical year, annum
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 normal year has 365 full days, but there are 366 days in a leap year.
- I was born in the year 1950.
Synonyms:

calendar year, civil year, legal year, winter (one of an especially great number of years,
A scheduled part of a calendar year spent in a specific activity.
- During this school year I have to get up at 6:30 to catch the bus.
1. A level or grade in school or college.
  - Every second-year student must select an area of specialization.
  - The exams in year 12 at high school are the most difficult.
The proportion of a creature's lifespan equivalent to one year of an average human lifespan (see also dog year).
- Geneticists have created baker's yeast that can live to 800 in yeast years.

Also used as

year is also the pronunciation spelling of here.

year is also the pronunciation spelling of hear.

year meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

year in Hindi

time it takes for the Earth to complete one revolution around the Sun: साल sāl, वर्ष varṣ, सन san, संवत्सर samvatsar, वत्सर vatsar, काल kāl
a scheduled part of a calendar year spent in a specific activity: संवत्सर samvatsar, वत्सर vatsar
a Julian year: साल sāl, काल kāl
time it takes for any planetary body to make one revolution around another body: साल sāl

year in Tamil

time it takes for the Earth to complete one revolution around the Sun: ஆண்டு āṇṭu, வருடம் varuṭam, வருஷம் varuṣam, வர்ஷம் varṣam, யாண்டு yāṇṭu

year in Marathi

time it takes for the Earth to complete one revolution around the Sun: वर्ष varṣa

year in Urdu

time it takes for the Earth to complete one revolution around the Sun: سال sāl, برس beres
a period between set dates that mark a year: سن

More languagesFewer languages

year in Bengali: সাল śal, বছর bochor, সন śon, বর্ষ borśo
year in Telugu: సంవత్సరము saṁvatsaramu, ఏడాది ēḍādi
year in Malayalam: വർഷം vaṟṣaṁ, കൊല്ലം kollaṁ, ആണ്ട് āṇṭŭ, വത്സരം vatsaraṁ
year in Kannada: ಏಡು ēḍu
year in Punjabi: ਵਰ੍ਹਾ varhā, ਸਾਲ sāl, ਬਰਸ baras, وَرھا varhā
year in Gujarati: વર્ષ varṣ, વરસ varas, સાલ sāl, સન san
year in Odia: ବର୍ଷ barṣa
year in Sanskrit: वर्ष varṣa
year in Sinhala: අවුරුද්ද awurudda
year in Assamese: বছৰ bosor, চন son
year in Pashto: کال kāl
year in Tagalog: taon
year in Arabic: أَعْوَام ʔaʕwām, سَنَوَات sanawāt, عَام ʕām, سَنَة sana
year in Malay: tahun, sanah, warsa
year in Indonesian: tahun, kelas
year in Persian: سَال sāl, سال sâl
year in Thai: ปี bpii
year in Vietnamese: năm
year in Myanmar: နှစ် hnac
Sindhi: سال sālu
Kashmiri: ؤری vạrī, جَماتھ jạmāth

Examples of year in a sentence

This Chinese year is the year of the Ox.
I'm the oldest student in my year because I've repeated twice.
Construction of the world’s tallest unoccupied skyscraper may resume as early as next week, almost 10 years after work ground to a halt, according to Chinese state media.2025 April 24, Oscar Holland, “Construction of world’s tallest abandoned skyscraper to resume after a decade”, in CNN:

All 40 example sentences with year

Synonyms of year

19 more synonymsFewer synonyms

lunar year
Platonic year
sidereal year
Sothic year
tropical year
calendar year
civil year
legal year
winter (one of an especially great number of years,
accounting year
base year
dog year
financial year
fiscal year
liturgical year
quality-adjusted life year
school year
tax year
orb

All synonyms of year

Forms of year

plural	years
alternative pronunciation-spelling	yeah
alternative pronunciation-spelling	yur
plural UK (colloquial)	year
alternative form (obsolete)	yeare
alternative form (obsolete)	yeer
alternative form (obsolete)	yeere
alternative form (obsolete)	yere

Plural of year: years

Origin of year

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 formed from year

Phrases with year

67 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with year

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about year

What does year mean?: Year means a period of time akin to the time taken for the Earth to undergo a full cycle of seasons.
What is year in Hindi?: Year in Hindi is साल (sāl), वर्ष (varṣ), सन (san). See Year meaning in Hindi.
How do you use year in a sentence?: This Chinese year is the year of the Ox.
What part of speech is year?: Year is a noun.
How do you pronounce year?: Year is pronounced /jɪə/ (UK).
What is the plural of year?: The plural of year is years.

Words near year in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: year (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-a year.ogg, en-us-year.ogg.

Cite this entry: “year.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/year. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.