year

English

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /jɪə/
Audio (UK) (file)
(General American) enPR: yîr, IPA^(key): /jɪɹ/
Audio (US) (file)
(Scotland, Ireland) IPA^(key): /jir/
(General South African) IPA^(key): /jøː/
(Wales, other regions) IPA^(key): /jɜː/
Hyphenation: year
Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)
Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ) (in some varieties of English)

Etymology 1

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.

Alternative forms

Noun

year (plural years)

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
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.
(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.
Mars goes around the sun once in a Martian year, or 1.88 Earth years.
- 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Citdael:
  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 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.

This Chinese year is the year of the Ox.
- 2013 July 20, “The attack of the MOOCs”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:
  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.
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.