Where does “years” come from?

Year comes from Middle English yere, Old English ġēar, Proto-Germanic jērą, and Proto-Indo-European yōro-, ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root yeh₁r-.

years (English): plural of year; API pl; A very long time

Definitions

  1. plural of year; API pl; A very long time

Ancestry of “years”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishyearA solar year, the time it takes the Earth to...
2Middle Englishyeeryear
3Old Englishġēaryear
4Proto-West Germanicjāryear
5Proto-Germanicjērąyear; name of the J-rune
6Proto-Indo-Europeanyeh₁r-year

Words derived from “years”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European yeh₁r- →