Where does “yearly” come from?
Yearly comes from Middle English yeerly, from Old English ġēarlīc, meaning occurring once a year or lasting for a year.
yearly (English): Happening once every year; Once a year; Every...
Definitions
- Happening once every year; Once a year; Every...
Ancestry of “yearly”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Middle English | yeerly | — |
| 2 | Old English | ġēarlīc | yearly, of the year, annual |
| 3 | Old English | ġēar | year |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | jār | year |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | jērą | year; name of the J-rune |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | yeh₁r- | year |
Words derived from “yearly”