Origin of the word year

What is the origin of the word year?

The Greek word for “year”, ἔτος, is cognate with Latin vetus “old”, from the PIE word *wetos- “year”, also preserved in this meaning in Sanskrit vat-sa-ras “year” and vat-sa- “yearling (calf)”, the latter also reflected in Latin vitulus “bull calf”, English wether “ram” (Old English weðer, Gothic wiþrus “lamb”).

What words can you spell with year?

Words made by unscrambling the letters Y E A R

  • 4 letter words made by unscrambling the letters in year. aery. eyra. yare. year.
  • 3 letter words made by unscrambling the letters in year. are. aye. ray. rya. rye. yar.
  • 2 letter words made by unscrambling the letters in year. ae. ay. ya. ye. Above are the results of unscrambling year.

What does annual spell?

1 : covering the period of a year annual rainfall annual income. 2 : occurring or happening every year or once a year : yearly an annual reunion an annual physical checkup.

How many month is annual?

COMPOUND INTEREST

Compounding Period Descriptive Adverb Fraction of one year
1 month monthly 1/12
3 months quarterly 1/4
6 months semiannually 1/2
1 year annually 1

Does annual mean it comes back every year?

An annual is a plant that lives for just one season. Whether you plant from seed or purchase seedlings to plant, an annual will sprout, flower, seed and then die — all in the same year.

What plants dont die in winter?

Freeze-Proof Plants

  • Lily-of-the-Valley. Don’t let its dainty blooms fool you — lily-of-the-valley (Convallaria majalis) is a tough plant.
  • Siberian Iris.
  • American Mountain Ash.
  • Coral Bells (Heuchera)
  • Pansies.
  • Hosta.
  • Siberian Cypress.
  • ‘Fastigiata’ Spruce (Picea pungens var.

What is the easiest perennial to grow?

10 Types of Easy-Care Perennial Flowers

  • 01 of 10. Blazing Star (Liatris spicata)
  • 02 of 10. Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
  • 03 of 10. Coral Bells (Heuchera)
  • 04 of 10. Foam Flower (Tiarella cordifolia)
  • 05 of 10. Globe Thistle (Echinops ritro)
  • 06 of 10. Hosta (Hosta)
  • 07 of 10. Peonies (Paeonia)
  • 08 of 10.

Which plants come back year after year?

Perennial plants These plants are ones that flower reliably every year. Usually get bigger each time. The stems die back over winter, but the roots don’t. Meaning the plant can regenerate the following year.

What are the prettiest perennials?

20 of the Best Perennial Flowers and Plants That’ll Bloom Year After Year

  • of 20. Hostas.
  • of 20. Shasta Daisy (Leucanthemum)
  • of 20. False Indigo (Baptisia)
  • of 20. Daylily (Hemerocallis)
  • of 20. Phlox.
  • of 20. Lupines.
  • of 20. Butterfly Bush (Summer Lilacs)
  • of 20. Hydrangeas.

Which is better annuals or perennials?

Annuals provide nearly instant gratification, maturing faster than perennials or biennials, and often bloom from planting time until frost, and in some cases beyond. If you want a lot of blooms, annuals are the answer. They put all of their energy into developing flowers.

What flowers do not have to be replanted?

Plants & Flowers That Will Bloom Each Year Without Replanting

  • Most Common Perennials.
  • Nectar Rich Tubular Flowers.
  • Plants with Square Stems.
  • Drought-Tolerant Flower Bulbs.
  • Types of Lobelia.

Why do annuals die every year?

Because annual flowers must complete their life cycles in a single year, they generally grow more quickly than perennials and start to bloom sooner. They can fill areas in the flower border where other plants such as perennials have died back, leaving a glaring gap.

Will my marigolds come back next year?

Annual marigold plants do not remain alive from one year to the next. The plants that decorate your beds and patio containers in summer are destined to die that same year. But that doesn’t mean you won’t see more flowers the following spring. Marigolds and other annuals produce flowers, and those flowers produce seeds.

How long do marigold plants last?

Garden marigolds are annuals, which means they germinate, grow, bear flowers and die all in one growing season. Generally, their maximum lifespan is less than a year, even when they’re started early in the year indoors instead of starting from seed directly in the garden.

Why are marigolds dying?

Among the most common marigold diseases are blights, rots, and mildews. Usually, these types of diseases show up when conditions are wet and warm, and fungal spores are rampant. In most cases, simply discontinuing overhead watering can stop the formation and spread of spores.

Do pansies grow back?

Pansies and violas are the mainstay of winter baskets and containers. Most of the bedding violas and pansies are perennials or biennials but they are usually just kept for one season and then discarded, but after flowering they can be cut back to a couple of centimetres and they will re-grow.

What to do with pansies when they die?

Plant a new blooming pansy if your existing ones begins to die back. If the plant stops producing blooms and begins to die back, you will most likely need to replace the plant with a new blooming pansy in order to benefit from new fall color.

How long will pansies last?

That means if you plant them in the autumn, pansies can last up to eight months, from September to April or May, providing colorful blooms for much of that time. They usually aren’t very pretty in the dead of winter, but their spring blooms can be even more robust when the plants have been in the ground since fall.

What temperature will kill pansies?

Areas much further north than zone 6 are tricky and may have winter weather that kills pansies. When the temperature gets down to about 25 degrees F. (-4 C.), flowers and foliage will begin to wilt, or even freeze.

What month do you plant pansies?

Pansies are planted during cool spring or fall months. Pansies prefer sites that provide full, direct morning sun, yet shield them from intense afternoon rays. Well-drained, fertile soil that’s high in organic matter helps fuel abundant pansy blooms.

Will a freeze kill pansies?

Pansies and Violas are hardy plants and will survive a frost—and even a hard freeze—for a period of time. Frozen soil and drying winds can kill the plants, even though the plants were healthy prior to that.

How do you keep pansies alive?

Give them partial shade, fertilize lightly, and deadhead throughout the hot months to maximize blooms. If you live in colder climates, with the warmest temperatures of the year at and below 70 degrees, summer will be the best time to grow pansies and get them to bloom.

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This shows grade level based on the word’s complexity.

See synonyms for: year / years on Thesaurus.com

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noun

a period of 365 or 366 days, in the Gregorian calendar, divided into 12 calendar months, now reckoned as beginning Jan. 1 and ending Dec. 31 (calendar year, or civil year ).Compare common year, leap year.

a period of approximately the same length in other calendars.

a space of 12 calendar months calculated from any point: This should have been finished a year ago.

the time in which any planet completes a revolution round the sun: the Martian year.

a full round of the seasons.

a period out of every 12 months, devoted to a certain pursuit, activity, or the like: the academic year.

years,

  1. age.
  2. old age: a man of years.
  3. time; period: the years of hardship and frustration.
  4. an unusually long period of time of indefinite length: I haven’t spoken to them in years.

a group of students entering school or college, graduating, or expecting to graduate in the same year; class.

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Idioms about year

    a year and a day, a period specified as the limit of time in various legal matters, as in determining a right or a liability, to allow for a full year by any way of counting.

    from the year one, for a very long time; as long as anyone remembers: He’s been with the company from the year one.

    year in and year out, regularly through the years; continually: Year in and year out they went to Florida for the winter.Also year in, year out.

Origin of year

First recordedbefore 900; Middle English yeer, Old English gēar; cognate with Dutch jaar, German Jahr, Old Norse ār, Gothic jēr, Greek hôros “year,” hṓrā “season, part of a day, hour”

OTHER WORDS FROM year

mul·ti·year, adjective

Words nearby year

Yeager, yeah, yealing, yean, yeanling, year, year-around, yearbook, Yeardley, year-end, year in, year out

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Words related to year

age, day, hour, moment, period, stage, term, time, breadth, diameter, dimension, duration, height, limit, magnitude, mileage, piece, portion, quantity, radius

How to use year in a sentence

  • The Singapore launch was pegged for the first half of this year, pushed back due to coronavirus.

  • The University of Washington’s Institute on Health Metrics estimates that there will be nearly 413,000 deaths by the end of the year.

  • To best compare today’s StarTech to its past versions, I look at its metrics on September 30 each year from 2015 to 2019, and those numbers as of September 15 of this year.

  • No chief executive “should sit in their chair for dozens of years,” she says.

  • Today’s announcements won’t hit the Pro, which got an update earlier in the year.

  • However, more than 20 players on the ballot this year were probably worthy of being enshrined in Cooperstown.

  • The influential al Qaeda propagandist, who was born in New Mexico, died in a U.S. drone strike later that year.

  • Eric Garcetti succeeded Villaraigosa and has received high marks in his first year and a half on the job.

  • Grindr introduced the feature themselves in October the same year and called it ‘tribes.’

  • In the last year, her fusion exercise class has attracted a cult following and become de rigueur among the celebrity set.

  • In the year of misery, of agony and suffering in general he had endured, he had settled upon one theory.

  • The great plague of this and the subsequent year broke out at St. Giles, London.

  • Twice a year the formal invitation was sent out by the old nobleman to his only son, and to his two nephews.

  • After about the forty-fifth year it becomes gradually less; after seventy-five years it is about one-half the amount given.

  • The clink of the stone-masons’ chisels had resounded year after year from morning till night.

British Dictionary definitions for year


noun

Also called: civil year the period of time, the calendar year, containing 365 days or in a leap year 366 days. It is based on the Gregorian calendar, being divided into 12 calendar months, and is reckoned from January 1 to December 31

a period of twelve months from any specified date, such as one based on the four seasons

a specific period of time, usually occupying a definite part or parts of a twelve-month period, used for some particular activitya school year

Also called: astronomical year, tropical year the period of time, the solar year, during which the earth makes one revolution around the sun, measured between two successive vernal equinoxes: equal to 365.242 19 days

the period of time, the sidereal year, during which the earth makes one revolution around the sun, measured between two successive conjunctions of a particular distant star: equal to 365.256 36 days

the period of time, the lunar year, containing 12 lunar months and equal to 354.3671 days

the period of time taken by a specified planet to complete one revolution around the sunthe Martian year

(plural) age, esp old agea man of his years should be more careful

(plural) timein years to come

a group of pupils or students, who are taught or study together, divided into classes at schoolthey are the best year we’ve ever had for history

the year dot informal as long ago as can be remembered

year and a day English law a period fixed by law to ensure the completion of a full year. It is applied for certain purposes, such as to determine the time within which wrecks must be claimed

year in, year out regularly or monotonously, over a long period

Other words from year

Related adjective: annual

Word Origin for year

Old English gear; related to Gothic jēr, Old Saxon, Old High German jār, Old Norse ār year, Polish jar springtime, Latin hōrnus of this year

usage for year

In writing spans of years, it is important to choose a style that avoids ambiguity. The practice adopted in this dictionary is, in four-figure dates, to specify the last two digits of the second date if it falls within the same century as the first: 1801–08; 1850–51; 1899–1901 . In writing three-figure bc dates, it is advisable to give both dates in full: 159–156 bc, not 159–56 bc unless of course the span referred to consists of 103 years rather than three years. It is also advisable to specify bc or ad in years under 1000 unless the context makes this self-evident

Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with year


In addition to the idiom beginning with year

  • year in, year out

also see:

  • all year round
  • along in years
  • by the day (year)
  • donkey’s years

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

see caption

An animation of the inner Solar System planets’ orbit around the Sun. The duration of the year is the time taken to go around the Sun.

A year is the orbital period of a planetary body, for example, the Earth, moving in its orbit around the Sun. Due to the Earth’s axial tilt, the course of a year sees the passing of the seasons, marked by change in weather, the hours of daylight, and, consequently, vegetation and soil fertility. In temperate and subpolar regions around the planet, four seasons are generally recognized: spring, summer, autumn and winter. In tropical and subtropical regions, several geographical sectors do not present defined seasons; but in the seasonal tropics, the annual wet and dry seasons are recognized and tracked.

A calendar year is an approximation of the number of days of the Earth’s orbital period, as counted in a given calendar. The Gregorian calendar, or modern calendar, presents its calendar year to be either a common year of 365 days or a leap year of 366 days, as do the Julian calendars. For the Gregorian calendar, the average length of the calendar year (the mean year) across the complete leap cycle of 400 years is 365.2425 days (97 out of 400 years are leap years).

In English, the unit of time for year is commonly abbreviated as «y» or «yr». The symbol «a» is more common in scientific literature, though its exact duration may be inconsistent.
In astronomy, the Julian year is a unit of time defined as 365.25 days of exactly 86,400 seconds (SI base unit), totalling exactly 31,557,600 seconds in the Julian astronomical year.[1]

The word year is also used for periods loosely associated with, but not identical to, the calendar or astronomical year, such as the seasonal year, the fiscal year, the academic year, etc. Similarly, year can mean the orbital period of any planet; for example, a Martian year and a Venusian year refer to the time those planets take to transit one complete orbit. The term can also be used in reference to any long period or cycle, such as the Great Year.[2]

Etymology

English year (via West Saxon ġēar (/jɛar/), Anglian ġēr) continues Proto-Germanic *jǣran (*jē₁ran). Cognates are German Jahr, Old High German jār, Old Norse ár and Gothic jer, from the Proto-Indo-European noun *yeh₁r-om «year, season». Cognates also descended from the same Proto-Indo-European noun (with variation in suffix ablaut) are Avestan yārǝ «year», Greek ὥρα (hṓra) «year, season, period of time» (whence «hour»), Old Church Slavonic jarŭ, and Latin hornus «of this year».

Latin annus (a 2nd declension masculine noun; annum is the accusative singular; annī is genitive singular and nominative plural; annō the dative and ablative singular) is from a PIE noun *h₂et-no-, which also yielded Gothic aþn «year» (only the dative plural aþnam is attested).

Although most languages treat the word as thematic *yeh₁r-o-, there is evidence for an original derivation with an *-r/n suffix, *yeh₁-ro-. Both Indo-European words for year, *yeh₁-ro- and *h₂et-no-, would then be derived from verbal roots meaning «to go, move», *h₁ey- and *h₂et-, respectively (compare Vedic Sanskrit éti «goes», atasi «thou goest, wanderest»). A number of English words are derived from Latin annus, such as annual, annuity, anniversary, etc.; per annum means «each year», annō Dominī means «in the year of the Lord».

The Greek word for «year», ἔτος, is cognate with Latin vetus «old», from the PIE word *wetos- «year», also preserved in this meaning in Sanskrit vat-sa-ras «year» and vat-sa- «yearling (calf)», the latter also reflected in Latin vitulus «bull calf», English wether «ram» (Old English weðer, Gothic wiþrus «lamb»).

In some languages, it is common to count years by referencing to one season, as in «summers», or «winters», or «harvests». Examples include Chinese 年 «year», originally 秂, an ideographic compound of a person carrying a bundle of wheat denoting «harvest». Slavic besides godŭ «time period; year» uses lěto «summer; year».

Intercalation

Astronomical years do not have an integer number of days or lunar months. Any calendar that follows an astronomical year must have a system of intercalation such as leap years.

Julian calendar

In the Julian calendar, the average (mean) length of a year is 365.25 days. In a non-leap year, there are 365 days, in a leap year there are 366 days. A leap year occurs every fourth year, or leap year, during which a leap day is intercalated into the month of February. The name «Leap Day» is applied to the added day.

The Revised Julian calendar, proposed in 1923 and used in some Eastern Orthodox Churches,
has 218 leap years every 900 years, for the average (mean) year length of 365.2422222 days, close to the length of the mean tropical year, 365.24219 days (relative error of 9·10−8).
In the year 2800 CE, the Gregorian and Revised Julian calendars will begin to differ by one calendar day.[3]

Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar attempts to cause the northward equinox to fall on or shortly before March 21 and hence it follows the northward equinox year, or tropical year.[4] Because 97 out of 400 years are leap years, the mean length of the Gregorian calendar year is 365.2425 days; with a relative error below one ppm (8·10−7) relative to the current length of the mean tropical year (365.24219 days) and even closer to the current March equinox year of 365.242374 days that it aims to match. It is estimated that by the year 4000 CE, the northward equinox will fall back by one day in the Gregorian calendar,[citation needed] not because of this difference, but due to the slowing of the Earth’s rotation and the associated lengthening of the day.[clarification needed]

Other calendars

Historically, lunisolar calendars intercalated entire leap months on an observational basis. Lunisolar calendars have mostly fallen out of use except for liturgical reasons (Hebrew calendar, various Hindu calendars).

A modern adaptation of the historical Jalali calendar, known as the Solar Hijri calendar (1925), is a purely solar calendar with an irregular pattern of leap days based on observation (or astronomical computation), aiming to place new year (Nowruz) on the day of vernal equinox (for the time zone of Tehran), as opposed to using an algorithmic system of leap years.

Year numbering

A calendar era assigns a cardinal number to each sequential year, using a reference event in the past (called the epoch) as the beginning of the era.

The Gregorian calendar era is the world’s most widely used civil calendar.[5] Its epoch is a 6th century estimate of the date of birth of Jesus of Nazareth. Two notations are used to indicate year numbering in the Gregorian calendar: the Christian «Anno Domini» (meaning «in the year of the Lord»), abbreviated AD; and «Common Era», abbreviated CE, preferred by many of other faiths and none. Year numbers are based on inclusive counting, so that there is no «year zero». Years before the epoch are abbreviated BC for Before Christ or BCE for Before the Common Era. In Astronomical year numbering, positive numbers indicate years AD/CE, the number 0 designates 1 BC/BCE, −1 designates 2 BC/BCE, and so on.

Other eras include that of Ancient Rome, Ab Urbe Condita («from the foundation of the city), abbreviated AUC; Anno Mundi («year of the world»), used for the Hebrew calendar and abbreviated AM; and the Japanese emperor eras described above. The Islamic Hijri year, (year of the Hijrah, Anno Hegirae abbreviated AH), is a lunar calendar of twelve lunar months and thus is shorter than a solar year.

Pragmatic divisions

Financial and scientific calculations often use a 365-day calendar to simplify daily rates.

Fiscal year

A fiscal year or financial year is a 12-month period used for calculating annual financial statements in businesses and other organizations. In many jurisdictions, regulations regarding accounting require such reports once per twelve months, but do not require that the twelve months constitute a calendar year.

For example, in Canada and India the fiscal year runs from April 1; in the United Kingdom it runs from April 1 for purposes of corporation tax and government financial statements, but from April 6 for purposes of personal taxation and payment of state benefits; in Australia it runs from July 1; while in the United States the fiscal year of the federal government runs from October 1.

Academic year

An academic year is the annual period during which a student attends an educational institution. The academic year may be divided into academic terms, such as semesters or quarters. The school year in many countries starts in August or September and ends in May, June or July. In Israel the academic year begins around October or November, aligned with the second month of the Hebrew calendar.

Some schools in the UK, Canada and the United States divide the academic year into three roughly equal-length terms (called trimesters or quarters in the United States), roughly coinciding with autumn, winter, and spring. At some, a shortened summer session, sometimes considered part of the regular academic year, is attended by students on a voluntary or elective basis. Other schools break the year into two main semesters, a first (typically August through December) and a second semester (January through May). Each of these main semesters may be split in half by mid-term exams, and each of the halves is referred to as a quarter (or term in some countries). There may also be a voluntary summer session and/or a short January session.

Some other schools, including some in the United States, have four marking periods. Some schools in the United States, notably Boston Latin School, may divide the year into five or more marking periods. Some state in defense of this that there is perhaps a positive correlation between report frequency and academic achievement.

There are typically 180 days of teaching each year in schools in the US, excluding weekends and breaks, while there are 190 days for pupils in state schools in Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, and 200 for pupils in Australia.

In India the academic year normally starts from June 1 and ends on May 31. Though schools start closing from mid-March, the actual academic closure is on May 31 and in Nepal it starts from July 15.[citation needed]

Schools and universities in Australia typically have academic years that roughly align with the calendar year (i.e., starting in February or March and ending in October to December), as the southern hemisphere experiences summer from December to February.

Astronomical years

Julian year

The Julian year, as used in astronomy and other sciences, is a time unit defined as exactly 365.25 days of 86,400 SI seconds each («ephemeris days»). This is the normal meaning of the unit «year» used in various scientific contexts. The Julian century of 36525 ephemeris days and the Julian millennium of 365250 ephemeris days are used in astronomical calculations. Fundamentally, expressing a time interval in Julian years is a way to precisely specify an amount of time (not how many «real» years), for long time intervals where stating the number of ephemeris days would be unwieldy and unintuitive. By convention, the Julian year is used in the computation of the distance covered by a light-year.

In the Unified Code for Units of Measure (but not according to the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics or the International Union of Geological Sciences, see below), the symbol a (without subscript) always refers to the Julian year, aj, of exactly 31557600 seconds.

365.25 d × 86400 s = 1 a = 1 aj = 31.5576 Ms

The SI multiplier prefixes may be applied to it to form «ka», «Ma», etc.[6]

Sidereal, tropical, and anomalistic years

Each of these three years can be loosely called an astronomical year.

The sidereal year is the time taken for the Earth to complete one revolution of its orbit, as measured against a fixed frame of reference (such as the fixed stars, Latin sidera, singular sidus). Its average duration is 365.256363004 days (365 d 6 h 9 min 9.76 s) (at the epoch J2000.0 = January 1, 2000, 12:00:00 TT).[7]

Today the mean tropical year is defined as the period of time for the mean ecliptic longitude of the Sun to increase by 360 degrees.[8] Since the Sun’s ecliptic longitude is measured with respect to the equinox,[9] the tropical year comprises a complete cycle of the seasons and is the basis of solar calendars such as the internationally used Gregorian calendar. The modern definition of mean tropical year differs from the actual time between passages of, e.g., the northward equinox, by a minute or two, for several reasons explained below. Because of the Earth’s axial precession, this year is about 20 minutes shorter than the sidereal year. The mean tropical year is approximately 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 45 seconds, using the modern definition[10] ( = 365.24219 d × 86 400 s). The length of the tropical year varies a bit over thousands of years because the rate of axial precession is not constant.

The anomalistic year is the time taken for the Earth to complete one revolution with respect to its apsides. The orbit of the Earth is elliptical; the extreme points, called apsides, are the perihelion, where the Earth is closest to the Sun, and the aphelion, where the Earth is farthest from the Sun. The anomalistic year is usually defined as the time between perihelion passages. Its average duration is 365.259636 days (365 d 6 h 13 min 52.6 s) (at the epoch J2011.0).[11]

Draconic year

The draconic year, draconitic year, eclipse year, or ecliptic year is the time taken for the Sun (as seen from the Earth) to complete one revolution with respect to the same lunar node (a point where the Moon’s orbit intersects the ecliptic). The year is associated with eclipses: these occur only when both the Sun and the Moon are near these nodes; so eclipses occur within about a month of every half eclipse year. Hence there are two eclipse seasons every eclipse year. The average duration of the eclipse year is

346.620075883 days (346 d 14 h 52 min 54 s) (at the epoch J2000.0).

This term is sometimes erroneously used for the draconic or nodal period of lunar precession, that is the period of a complete revolution of the Moon’s ascending node around the ecliptic: 18.612815932 Julian years (6798.331019 days; at the epoch J2000.0).

Full moon cycle

The full moon cycle is the time for the Sun (as seen from the Earth) to complete one revolution with respect to the perigee of the Moon’s orbit. This period is associated with the apparent size of the full moon, and also with the varying duration of the synodic month. The duration of one full moon cycle is:

411.78443029 days (411 days 18 hours 49 minutes 35 seconds) (at the epoch J2000.0).

Lunar year

The lunar year comprises twelve full cycles of the phases of the Moon, as seen from Earth. It has a duration of approximately 354.37 days. Muslims use this for celebrating their Eids and for marking the start of the fasting month of Ramadan. A Muslim calendar year is based on the lunar cycle. The Jewish calendar is also essentially lunar, except that an intercalary lunar month is added once every two or three years, in order to keep the calendar synchronized with the solar cycle as well. Thus, a lunar year on the Jewish (Hebrew) calendar consists of either twelve or thirteen lunar months.

Vague year

The vague year, from annus vagus or wandering year, is an integral approximation to the year equaling 365 days, which wanders in relation to more exact years. Typically the vague year is divided into 12 schematic months of 30 days each plus 5 epagomenal days. The vague year was used in the calendars of Ethiopia, Ancient Egypt, Iran, Armenia and in Mesoamerica among the Aztecs and Maya.[12] It is still used by many Zoroastrian communities.

Heliacal year

A heliacal year is the interval between the heliacal risings of a star. It differs from the sidereal year for stars away from the ecliptic due mainly to the precession of the equinoxes.

Sothic year

The Sothic year is the interval between heliacal risings of the star Sirius. It is currently less than the sidereal year and its duration is very close to the Julian year of 365.25 days.

Gaussian year

The Gaussian year is the sidereal year for a planet of negligible mass (relative to the Sun) and unperturbed by other planets that is governed by the Gaussian gravitational constant. Such a planet would be slightly closer to the Sun than Earth’s mean distance. Its length is:

365.2568983 days (365 d 6 h 9 min 56 s).

Besselian year

The Besselian year is a tropical year that starts when the (fictitious) mean Sun reaches an ecliptic longitude of 280°. This is currently on or close to January 1. It is named after the 19th-century German astronomer and mathematician Friedrich Bessel. The following equation can be used to compute the current Besselian epoch (in years):[13]

B = 1900.0 + (Julian dateTT2415020.31352) / 365.242198781

The TT subscript indicates that for this formula, the Julian date should use the Terrestrial Time scale, or its predecessor, ephemeris time.

Variation in the length of the year and the day

The exact length of an astronomical year changes over time.

  • The positions of the equinox and solstice points with respect to the apsides of Earth’s orbit change: the equinoxes and solstices move westward relative to the stars because of precession, and the apsides move in the other direction because of the long-term effects of gravitational pull by the other planets. Since the speed of the Earth varies according to its position in its orbit as measured from its perihelion, Earth’s speed when in a solstice or equinox point changes over time: if such a point moves toward perihelion, the interval between two passages decreases a little from year to year; if the point moves towards aphelion, that period increases a little from year to year. So a «tropical year» measured from one passage of the northward («vernal») equinox to the next, differs from the one measured between passages of the southward («autumnal») equinox. The average over the full orbit does not change because of this, so the length of the average tropical year does not change because of this second-order effect.
  • Each planet’s movement is perturbed by the gravity of every other planet. This leads to short-term fluctuations in its speed, and therefore its period from year to year. Moreover, it causes long-term changes in its orbit, and therefore also long-term changes in these periods.
  • Tidal drag between the Earth and the Moon and Sun increases the length of the day and of the month (by transferring angular momentum from the rotation of the Earth to the revolution of the Moon); since the apparent mean solar day is the unit with which we measure the length of the year in civil life, the length of the year appears to decrease. The rotation rate of the Earth is also changed by factors such as post-glacial rebound and sea level rise.

Numerical value of year variation
Mean year lengths in this section are calculated for 2000, and differences in year lengths, compared to 2000, are given for past and future years. In the tables a day is 86,400 SI seconds long.[14][15][16][17]

Mean year lengths for 2000

Type of year Days Hours Minutes Seconds
Tropical 365 5 48 45
Sidereal 365 6 9 10
Anomalistic 365 6 13 53
Eclipse 346 14 52 55
Year length difference from 2000
(seconds; positive when length for tabulated year is greater than length in 2000)

Year Tropical Sidereal Anomalistic Eclipse
−4000 −8 −45 −15 −174
−2000 4 −19 −11 −116
0 7 −4 −5 −57
2000 0 0 0 0
4000 −14 −3 5 54
6000 −35 −12 10 104

Summary

Some of the year lengths in this table are in average solar days, which are slowly getting longer and are now around 86,400.002 SI seconds.

Days Year type
346.62 Draconic, also called eclipse.
354.37 Lunar.
365 Vague, and a common year in many solar calendars. Average solar days.
365.24219 Tropical, also called solar, averaged and then rounded for epoch J2000.0.
365.2425 Gregorian, on average. Average solar days.
365.25 Julian.
365.25636 Sidereal, for epoch J2000.0.
365.259636 Anomalistic, averaged and then rounded for epoch J2011.0.
366 Leap in many solar calendars.

An average Gregorian year may be said to be 365.2425 days (52.1775 weeks, and if an hour is defined as one twenty-fourth of a day, 8765.82 hours, 525949.2 minutes or 31556952 seconds). Note however that in absolute time the average Gregorian year does not exist, because each period of 400 years is longer (by more than 1000 seconds) than the preceding one as the rotation of the earth slows. For this calendar, a common year is 365 days (8760 hours, 525600 minutes or 31536000 seconds), and a leap year is 366 days (8784 hours, 527040 minutes or 31622400 seconds). The 400-year civil cycle of the Gregorian calendar has 146097 days and hence exactly 20871 weeks.

Greater astronomical years

Equinoctial cycle

The Great Year, or equinoctial cycle, corresponds to a complete revolution of the equinoxes around the ecliptic. Its length is about 25,700 years.[18][19]

Galactic year

The Galactic year is the time it takes Earth’s Solar System to revolve once around the Galactic Center. It comprises roughly 230 million Earth years.[20]

Seasonal year

A seasonal year is the time between successive recurrences of a seasonal event such as the flooding of a river, the migration of a species of bird, the flowering of a species of plant, the first frost, or the first scheduled game of a certain sport. All of these events can have wide variations of more than a month from year to year.

Symbols and abbreviations

A common symbol for the year as a unit of time is «a», taken from the Latin word annus.
For example, the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Guide for the Use of the International System of Units (SI) supports the symbol «a» as the unit of time for a year.[21]

In English, the abbreviations «y» or «yr» are more commonly used in non-scientific literature.[22] In some Earth sciences branches (geology and paleontology), «kyr, myr, byr» (thousands, millions, and billions of years, respectively) and similar abbreviations are used to denote intervals of time remote from the present.[23][24] In astronomy the abbreviations kyr, Myr and Gyr are in common use for kiloyears, megayears and gigayears.[25][26]

The Unified Code for Units of Measure (UCUM) disambiguates the varying symbologies of ISO 1000, ISO 2955 and ANSI X3.50 by using:[6]

at = 365.24219 days for the mean tropical year;
aj = 365.25 days for the mean Julian year;
ag = 365.2425 days for the mean Gregorian year;

In the UCUM, the symbol «a», without any qualifier, equals 1 aj.
The UCUM also minimizes confusion with are, a unit of area, by using the abbreviation «ar».

Since 1989, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) recognizes the symbol «a» rather than «yr» for a year, notes the different kinds of year, and recommends adopting the Julian year of 365.25 days, unless otherwise specified (IAU Style Manual).[27][28]

Since 1987, the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) notes «a» as the general symbol for the time unit year (IUPAP Red Book).[29]
Since 1993, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) Green Book also uses the same symbol «a», notes the difference between Gregorian year and Julian year, and adopts the former (a=365.2425 days),[30] also noted in the IUPAC Gold Book.[31]

In 2011, the IUPAC and the International Union of Geological Sciences jointly recommended defining the «annus», with symbol «a», as the length of the tropical year in the year 2000:[32]

a = 31556925.445 seconds (approximately 365.24219265 ephemeris days)

This differs from the above definition of 365.25 days by about 20 parts per million. The joint document says that definitions such as the Julian year «bear an inherent, pre-programmed obsolescence because of the variability of Earth’s orbital movement», but then proposes using the length of the tropical year as of 2000 AD (specified down to the millisecond), which suffers from the same problem.[33] (The tropical year oscillates with time by more than a minute.)

The notation has proved controversial as it conflicts with an earlier convention among geoscientists to use «a» specifically for «years ago» (e.g. 1 Ma for 1 million years ago), and «y» or «yr» for a one-year time period.[33][34]
However, this historical practice does not comply with the NIST Guide,[21] considering the unacceptability of mixing information concerning the physical quantity being measured (in this case, time intervals or points in time) with the units and also the unnaceptability of using abbreviations for units.
Furthermore, according to the UK Metric Association (UKMA), language-independent symbols are more universally understood (UKMA Style guide).[35]

SI prefix multipliers

For the following, there are alternative forms that elide the consecutive vowels, such as kilannus, megannus, etc. The exponents and exponential notations are typically used for calculating and in displaying calculations, and for conserving space, as in tables of data.

  • ka (for kiloannus) – a unit of time equal to one thousand or 103 years, also known as a millennium in anthropology and calendar uses. The prefix multiplier «ka» is typically used in geology, paleontology, and archaeology for the Holocene and Pleistocene periods, where a non−radiocarbon dating technique such as ice core dating, dendrochronology, uranium-thorium dating or varve analysis is used as the primary method for age determination. If age is determined primarily by radiocarbon dating, then the age should be expressed in either radiocarbon or calendar (calibrated) years Before Present.
  • Ma (for megaannus) – a unit of time equal to one million or 106 years. The suffix «Ma» is commonly used in scientific disciplines such as geology, paleontology, and celestial mechanics. In astronomical applications, the year used is the Julian year of precisely 365.25 days. In geology and paleontology, the year is not so precise and varies depending on the author.
  • Ga (for gigaannus) – a unit of time equal to one billion or 109 years. «Ga» is commonly used in scientific disciplines such as cosmology and geology to signify extremely long time periods in the past.[36] For example, the formation of the Earth occurred approximately 4.54 Ga (4.54 billion years) ago and the age of the universe is approximately 13.8 Ga.
  • Ta (for teraannus) – a unit of time equal to one trillion or 1012 years. «Ta» is an extremely long unit of time, about 70 times as long as the age of the universe. It is the same order of magnitude as the expected life span of a small red dwarf.
  • Pa (for petaannus) – a unit of time equal to one quadrillion or 1015 years. The half-life of the nuclide cadmium-113 is about 8 Pa.[37] This symbol coincides with that for the pascal without a multiplier prefix, though both are infrequently used and context will normally be sufficient to distinguish time from pressure values.
  • Ea (for exaannus) – a unit of time equal to one quintillion or 1018 years. The half-life of tungsten-180 is 1.8 Ea.[38]

Abbreviations for «years ago»

In geology and paleontology, a distinction sometimes is made between abbreviation «yr» for years and «ya» for years ago, combined with prefixes for thousand, million, or billion.[23][39] In archaeology, dealing with more recent periods, normally expressed dates, e.g. «10,000 BC», may be used as a more traditional form than Before Present («BP»).

These abbreviations include:

Non-SI abbreviation Short for… SI-prefixed equivalent Comments and examples

kyr

kilo years ka
  • Thousand years

myr
Myr

million years
Mega years
Ma
  • Million years

byr
Gyr

billion years
Giga years
Ga
  • Billion years (thousand million years or giga year)

kya

kilo years ago time ago in ka
  • Appearance of Homo sapiens, circa 200 kya
  • Out-of-Africa migration, circa 60 kya
  • Last Glacial Maximum, circa 20 kya
  • Neolithic Revolution, circa 10 kya

mya
Mya

million years ago
Mega years ago
time ago in Ma
  • Pliocene, 5.3 to 2.6 mya
    • The last geomagnetic reversal was 0.78 mya[40]
    • The (Eemian Stage) Last Glacial Period started 0.13 mya
  • The Holocene started 0.01 mya

bya
Gya

billion years ago
giga years ago
time ago in Ga
  • oldest Eukaryotes, 2 bya
  • formation of the Earth, 4.5 bya
  • Big Bang, 13.8 bya

Use of «mya» and «bya» is deprecated in modern geophysics, the recommended usage being «Ma» and «Ga» for dates Before Present, but «m.y.» for the duration of epochs.[23][24] This ad hoc distinction between «absolute» time and time intervals is somewhat controversial amongst members of the Geological Society of America.[41]

See also

  • 2023: current year
  • Astronomical year numbering
  • Century
  • Decade
  • Epoch (reference date)
  • ISO 8601: standard for representation of dates and times
  • List of calendars
  • List of years
  • Millennium
  • Orders of magnitude (time)
  • Unit of time
  • Annual

References

Notes

  1. ^ «SI units». IAU. Retrieved February 18, 2010. (See Table 5 and Section 5.15.) Reprinted from: Wilkins, George A. (1989). «The IAU Style Manual» (PDF). IAU Transactions. XXB.
  2. ^ OED, s.v. «year», entry 2.b.: «transf. Applied to a very long period or cycle (in chronology or mythology, or vaguely in poetic use).»
  3. ^ Shields, Miriam Nancy (1924). «The new calendar of the eastern churches». Popular Astronomy. 32: 407. Bibcode:1924PA…..32..407S.
  4. ^ Ziggelaar, A. (1983). «The Papal Bull of 1582 Promulgating a Reform of the Calendar». In G. V. Coyne; M. A. Hoskin; O. Pedersen (eds.). Gregorian Reform of the Calendar: Proceedings of the Vatican Conference to Commemorate its 400th Anniversary. Vatican City: Pontifical Academy of Sciences. p. 223.
  5. ^ Richards, E.G. (2013). «Calendars». In Urban, S.E.; Seidelmann, P.K. (eds.). Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac (PDF) (3rd ed.). Mill Valley, CA: University Science Books. pp. 585, 590. ISBN 978-1-891389-85-6. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 30, 2019. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
  6. ^ a b «The Unified Code for Units of Measure». UCUM. November 21, 2017. Retrieved July 27, 2022.
  7. ^ International Earth Rotation and Reference System Service. (2010).IERS EOP PC Useful constants. Archived October 29, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ Richards, E.G. (2013). Calendars. In S.E. Urban & P.K. Seidelmann (Eds.), Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac (3rd ed.). Mill Valley, CA: University Science Books. p. 586.
  9. ^ «longitude, ecliptic Archived August 19, 2017, at the Wayback Machine» and «dynamical equinox Archived August 19, 2017, at the Wayback Machine». (2018). In «Glossary», The Astronomical Almanac Online. United States Naval Observatory.
  10. ^
    Astronomical Almanac for the Year 2011. Washington and Taunton: U.S. Government Printing Office and the U.K. Hydrographic Office. 2009. p. M18 (Glossary).
  11. ^
    Astronomical Almanac for the Year 2011. Washington and Taunton: US Government Printing Office and the UK Hydrographic Office. 2009. pp. A1, C2.
  12. ^ Calendar Description and Coordination Archived April 26, 2012, at the Wayback Machine Maya World Studies Center
  13. ^
    Astronomical Almanac for the Year 2010. Washington and Taunton: U.S. Government Printing Office and the U.K. Hydrographic Office. 2008. p. B3.
  14. ^
    U.S. Naval Observatory Nautical Almanac Office and Her Majesty’s Nautical Almanac Office (2010). Astronomical Almanac for the year 2011. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. C2, L8.
  15. ^
    Simon, J.L.; Bretagnon, P.; Chapront, J.; Chapront-Touzé, M.; Francou, G.; Laskar, J. (February 1994). «Numerical expressions for precession formulae and mean elements for the Moon and planets». Astronomy and Astrophysics. 282 (2): 663–683. Bibcode:1994A&A…282..663S.
  16. ^
    Taff, Lawrence G. (1985). Celestial Mechanics: A Computational Guide for the Practitioner. New York: John Wiley & Sons. p. 103. ISBN 978-0-471-89316-5. Values in tables agree closely for 2000, and depart by as much as 44 seconds for the years furthest in the past or future; the expressions are simpler than those recommended in the Astronomical Almanac for the Year 2011.
  17. ^
    Seidelmann, P. Kenneth (2013). Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac. Sean E. Urban (ed.) (3 ed.). Univ Science Books. p. 587. ISBN 978-1-891389-85-6. Tabulates length of tropical year from −500 to 2000 at 500 year intervals using a formula by Laskar (1986); agrees closely with values in this section near 2000, departs by 6 seconds in −500.
  18. ^ Laskar, J.; Robutel, P.; Joutel, F.; Gastineau, M.; Correia, A. C. M.; Levrard, B. (2004). «A long-term numerical solution for the insolation quantities of the Earth». Astronomy & Astrophysics. 428: 261–285. Bibcode:2004A&A…428..261L. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20041335.
  19. ^ «Precession of the Earth’s Axis — Wolfram Demonstrations Project». demonstrations.wolfram.com. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
  20. ^
    «Science Bowl Questions, Astronomy, Set 2» (PDF). Science Bowl Practice Questions. Oak Ridge Associated Universities. 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 7, 2010. Retrieved December 9, 2009.
  21. ^ a b
    Thompson, Ambler; Taylor, Barry N. (2008). «Special Publication 811 – Guide for the Use of the International System of Units (SI)» (PDF). National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). para 8.1.
  22. ^ Rowlett, Russ. «Units: A». How Many? A Dictionary of Units of Measurement. University of North Carolina. Archived from the original on December 20, 2008. Retrieved January 9, 2009.
  23. ^ a b c
    «AGU publications: Grammar and Style Guide». American Geophysical Union. September 1, 2017. Archived from the original on September 18, 2019. Retrieved January 9, 2009.
  24. ^ a b
    North American Commission on Stratigraphic Nomenclature (November 2005). «North American Stratigraphic Code». The American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin (Article 13 (c) ed.). 89 (11): 1547–1591. doi:10.1306/07050504129.
  25. ^
    «General Instructions — Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society — Oxford Academic». Oxford University Press. November 3, 2022.
  26. ^
    «AAS Style Guide — AAS Journals». The American Astronomical Society. November 3, 2022.
  27. ^ G.A. Wilkins, Comm. 5, «IAU Style Manual», IAU Transactions XXB (1989), [1] Archived April 11, 2019, at the Wayback Machine.
  28. ^ «SI Units». International Astronomical Union. Retrieved April 23, 2022.
  29. ^ IUPAP Red Book: Symbols, Units, Nomenclature and Fundamental Constants in Physics. https://iupap.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/A4.pdf Archived January 1, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
  30. ^ E.R. Cohen, T. Cvitas, J.G. Frey, B. Holmström, K. Kuchitsu, R. Marquardt, I. Mills, F. Pavese, M. Quack, J. Stohner, H.L. Strauss, M. Takami, and A.J. Thor, Quantities, Units and Symbols in Physical Chemistry, IUPAC Green Book, Third Edition, Second Printing, IUPAC & RSC Publishing, Cambridge (2008) [2] Archived April 17, 2019, at the Wayback Machine
  31. ^ «year». The IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology. Research Triangle Park, NC: International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). February 24, 2014. doi:10.1351/goldbook.y06723.
  32. ^ Holden, Norman E.; Bonardi, Mauro L.; De Bièvre, Paul; Renne, Paul R. & Villa, Igor M. (2011). «IUPAC-IUGS common definition and convention on the use of the year as a derived unit of time (IUPAC Recommendations 2011)» (PDF). Pure and Applied Chemistry. 83 (5): 1159–1162. doi:10.1351/PAC-REC-09-01-22. hdl:10281/21054. S2CID 96753161.
  33. ^ a b Biever, Celeste (April 27, 2011). «Push to define year sparks time war». New Scientist. 210 (2810): 10. Bibcode:2011NewSc.210R..10B. doi:10.1016/S0262-4079(11)60955-X. Retrieved April 28, 2011.
  34. ^ «Letters About the IUPAC-IUGS Common Definition and Convention on the Use of the Year as a Derived Unit of Time». Chemistry International — Newsmagazine for IUPAC. November 19, 2011. Retrieved April 23, 2022.
  35. ^ «Style guide». UK Metric Association. July 12, 2017. Retrieved April 23, 2022.
  36. ^ Arndt, Nicholas (2011), «Ga», in Gargaud, Muriel; Amils, Ricardo; Quintanilla, José Cernicharo; Cleaves, Henderson James (Jim) (eds.), Encyclopedia of Astrobiology, Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer, p. 621, doi:10.1007/978-3-642-11274-4_611, ISBN 978-3-642-11274-4, retrieved December 22, 2020
  37. ^ P. Belli; et al. (2007). «Investigation of β decay of 113Cd». Phys. Rev. C. 76 (6): 064603. Bibcode:2007PhRvC..76f4603B. doi:10.1103/PhysRevC.76.064603.
  38. ^ F.A. Danevich; et al. (2003). «α activity of natural tungsten isotopes». Phys. Rev. C. 67 (1): 014310. arXiv:nucl-ex/0211013. Bibcode:2003PhRvC..67a4310D. doi:10.1103/PhysRevC.67.014310. S2CID 6733875.
  39. ^
    North American Commission on Stratigraphic Nomenclature. «North American Stratigraphic Code (Article 13 (c))». (c) Convention and abbreviations. – The age of a stratigraphic unit or the time of a geologic event, as commonly determined by numerical dating or by reference to a calibrated time-scale, may be expressed in years before the present. The unit of time is the modern year as presently recognized worldwide. Recommended (but not mandatory) abbreviations for such ages are SI (International System of Units) multipliers coupled with «a» for annus: ka, Ma, and Ga for kilo-annus (103 years), Mega-annus (106 years), and Giga-annus (109 years), respectively. Use of these terms after the age value follows the convention established in the field of C-14 dating. The «present» refers to AD 1950, and such qualifiers as «ago» or «before the present» are omitted after the value because measurement of the duration from the present to the past is implicit in the designation. In contrast, the duration of a remote interval of geologic time, as a number of years, should not be expressed by the same symbols. Abbreviations for numbers of years, without reference to the present, are informal (e.g., y or yr for years; my, m.y., or m.yr. for millions of years; and so forth, as preference dictates). For example, boundaries of the Late Cretaceous Epoch currently are calibrated at 63 Ma and 96 Ma, but the interval of time represented by this epoch is 33 m.y.
  40. ^
    Clement, Bradford M. (April 8, 2004). «Dependence of the duration of geomagnetic polarity reversals on site latitude». Nature. 428 (6983): 637–640. Bibcode:2004Natur.428..637C. doi:10.1038/nature02459. PMID 15071591. S2CID 4356044.
  41. ^ «Time Units». Geological Society of America. Archived from the original on June 16, 2016. Retrieved February 17, 2010.

Further reading

  • Fraser, Julius Thomas (1987). Time, the Familiar Stranger. Time. The Familiar Stranger (illustrated ed.). Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press. Bibcode:1988tfs..book…..F. ISBN 978-0-87023-576-4. OCLC 15790499.
  • Whitrow, Gerald James (2003). What is Time?. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-860781-6. OCLC 265440481.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Years.

  • Images of years

We use different languages worldwide to communicate with each other. Every so often we wonder where a word came from. How did a particular word start being used as a common word worldwide and where did it actually originate from. So to find this out we will explore the world of languages and origin of words in this article. This article will cover websites which will let you know the origin of a word.

The study of origin of a word is known as Etymology. You will find that often there are popular tales behind the origin of a word. Most of these tales are just tales and not true, but knowing how the word came into being is equally interesting. So let’s look at these websites to know the origin of words below.

Online Etymology Dictionary

Online etymology dictionary explains you the origin of words and what they meant along with how they would have sounded years back. You would see a date beside each word. This date represents the earliest evidence of this word being used in some sort of written manuscript. Now you can either search for a word you are looking for by typing it in the search box given at the top of the page, otherwise you can browse the words alphabetically. The website has a huge collection of words in it. You can go through the words and find out there origins and meanings as well.

Word Origins by English Oxford Living Dictionaries

Word Origins by English Oxford Living Dictionaries is a good website to know about a words origin. You can check out origin of a word or a phrase. You can search for the word or a phrase you are looking for or can even browse the page to know origin of different words. The website apart from this has a dictionary, thesaurus, grammar helper, etc. As this app has a dictionary, it proves to be a good source for knowing the origin of a word. You can see trending words when you scroll down the page. You can also subscribe to the newsletter on this website to receive updates regarding new words, phrases, etc.

Wordorigins.org

The website Wordorigins.org will let you know the origin of words and phrases. The website has a big list of words which you can go through, or even search for a particular word that you are looking for. The website also has a blog and discussion forum where people can discuss there views. You can login and become a member of the website so you receive regular updates from the website. You can either start browsing words by going to the big list words tab, or by searching for a word. The big list of words is in alphabetical order and there are about 400 words in here. Each word has a interesting story or folklore related to it.

Words of the World

Words of the World is a website which lets you watch videos to let you know the origin of a word. The website explains which language a word originated from through a video. The home page of the website will have a list of words for which you can see a video explaining how the word originated. The words on the home page are given in the format as shown in the screenshot above, but they can also be turned into a neat list if you like. The website is supported by the University of Nottingham and thus is a trusted source.

Learning Nerd

Learning Nerd is another website which has a section on English etymology resources. The website lists references to origin of words like there are word origin dictionaries listed, words with Greek and Latin roots are under a different category, words originating from around the world can be found under international words, and then there is a section for miscellaneous words. You can also play etymology quizzes and listen to etymology podcasts as well. The website itself doesn’t have much information about word origins but will redirect you to another website for your word needs.

Learn That Word

Learn That Word is another website which lists root words and prefixes. The website is pretty basic and a list of words can be seen right on the first page. The words are listed alphabetically, so you can even jump to a word that you are looking for easily. The website will list the root word, its meaning, its place of origin, and then definition and examples. This can be seen in the screenshot above.

These are the websites I found which let you know the origin of a word. Go through them and let me know which one you liked most. If you think there is a website which could be included in this article then leave a comment below.

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Lecture 9. Etymological background of the English vocabulary. 1. Etymology as a branch of linguistics. 2.Lecture 9. Etymological background of the English vocabulary. 1. Etymology as a branch of linguistics. 2. Native English vocabulary. 3. The role of borrowings in the formation of the English vocabulary. 4. Assimilation of borrowings. 5. Hybrid words 6. Etymological doublets. 7. False etymology. 8. International words.

1. Etymology  is a branch of lexicology, the  subject-matter of which  is 1. Etymology is a branch of lexicology, the subject-matter of which is the origin and evolution of lexical items, i. e. historical changes in the sphere of lexis. Etymology is mainly based on a diachronic approach. The history of the English vocabulary, is a history of far-reaching changes. It is marked by losses and gains in the word-stock of the English language, its considerable expansion due to internal and external causes.

According to their etymology the majority of English  words are taken,  or borrowed, According to their etymology the majority of English words are taken, or borrowed, from other languages (Latin, French, Scandinavian, etc. ), about 70% of modern English lexicon are not English by their origin. From etymological point of view the English word-stock is mixed. It consists of native and borrowed , or loan words.

In  linguistic literature  the  term  native is  used to denote In linguistic literature the term native is used to denote words of Anglo-Saxon origin brought to the British Isles from the continent in the 5 th century by the Germanic tribes – the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes, and also words coined later on their basis. The term borrowing is used to denote the process of adopting words from other ‘donor’ languages and also the result of this process, the language material itself (lexemes, morphemes, some word-groups) which are also called loans.

. 2. Native words consist of very ancient elements and  belong to very important semantic. 2. Native words consist of very ancient elements and belong to very important semantic groups. Though the total number of native English words is less than that of the borrowed ones (25 -30%), they are very important because of their great word-building ability, collocability and frequency value. To native words belong most of prepositions, conjunctions, numera. Is, a lot of notional words: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs. According to their origin, native words are subdivided into three groups: 1. Words of the Indo-European word-stock , having cognates (words of the same etymological root, of common origin) in other Indo-European languages (Romance, Slavonic, Greek, Baltic, Iranian, Armenian, Sanskrit).

English  words of this group denote e. Iementary notions  without which no human communicationEnglish words of this group denote e. Iementary notions without which no human communication would be possible. They include the following groups: a) Kinship terms: father (cogn. w. L pater), mother, brother, wife, son, daughter. b) Parts of the human body: nose, heart (cogn. w. L cor), lip, foot (cogn. w. Rus пядь) , ear. с ) Heavenly bodies: sun, moon. star (cogn. w. Gk aster). d) Times of day: day, night. e) Objects and phenomena of nature: wind, water, hill. f) Animals: cow, swine, goose, wolf, mouse. g) Plants: tree, birch, corn. h) Numerous adjectives: new, young; glad, sad (cogn. w. L satis. R сыт) i) Numerous verbs: be, do, sit, stand, eat, know j) Numerals from one to hundred.

2.  Words of common Germanic origin  having parallels  in  Germanic languages: 2. Words of common Germanic origin having parallels in Germanic languages: German, Norwegian, Dutch, Icelandic, etc. Some of the main groups of Germanic words are the same as in Indo-European element: a) Parts of the human body: eye, head, hand, arm, finger, bone. b) Natural objects and phenomena: rain, frost, sea, land, ground. c) Seasons of the year: winter, spring, summer, except autumn which is a French borrowing. d) Animals: horse. sheep, calf, bear, hare, fox, hen. e) Plants: oak, fir, grass. f) Names of materials: stone, coal, wood, glass, iron, lead.

g) Objects  connected with human  activities  and  everyday life: house,  room,g) Objects connected with human activities and everyday life: house, room, ship, boat, bridge, shop, cloth, hat, shirt, shoe, bench. h) Certain abstract names: life, hope, care, evil, need. i) Adjectives: green, blue, gray, white, dark, bright, warm, hot, good. j) Auxiliary and modal verbs: shall, will, must, can, may. k) Notional verbs: see, hear, speak, tell, say, answer. l) Pronouns: I, you, he, we, this, that, my, his, except they which is a Scandinavian borrowing. m) Prepositions: in, out, on, under, to. n) Conjunctions: and, but, as. Together with the words of the common Indo-European stock these Common Germanic words form the bulk of the most frequent elements used in any style of speech.

3.  English proper words  are specifically English as they have no cognates in other3. English proper words are specifically English as they have no cognates in other languages. The origin of some of them, such as, boy, girl, bird is unknown, others like lord, lady, woman, daisy, always came into being due to compounding: e. g. lord < OE hlaford f. hlafweard = breadkeeper (loaf, ward).

3.  Borrowing words from other languages is characteristic  of  English  throughout 3. Borrowing words from other languages is characteristic of English throughout its history. More than two thirds of the English vocabulary are borrowings. Mostly they are words of Romanic origin (Latin, French, Italian, Spanish). English history is very rich in different types of contacts with other countries, that is why it is very rich in borrowings. The Roman invasion, the adoption of Christianity, Scandinavian and Norman conquests of the British Isles, the development of British colonialism and trade and cultural relations served to increase immensely the English vocabulary. The majority of these borrowings are fully assimilated in English in their pronunciation, grammar, spelling and can be hardly distinguished from native words.

The term source of borrowing should be applied to the language from which the loan wordThe term source of borrowing should be applied to the language from which the loan word was taken into English. Origin of borrowing refers to the language to which the word may be traced. Thus paper < Fr. papier < Lat. papyrus < Gr. papyros has French as its source and Greek as its origin. Alongside loan words proper we distinguish translation loans and semantic borrowings. Translation loans are words and expressions formed from the material already existing in the language, but according to the patterns taken from another language, by way of literal morpheme-for-morpheme translation. e. g. swan song from Germ. swanen gesung masterpiece – meisterstuck a collective farm – колхоз

The term semantic loan is used to denote the development in an English word of aThe term semantic loan is used to denote the development in an English word of a new meaning due to the influence of a related word in another language. The English word “pioneer” meant “explorer” and one who is the first. Under the influence of the Russian word “пионер” it has come to mean “a member of the Young Pioneer Organization”. “ Dwell” – “to wander about” (under the influence of Scandinavian — “to live”).

Latin borrowings  The role of words borrowed from Latin cannot be overestimated.  It wasLatin borrowings The role of words borrowed from Latin cannot be overestimated. It was counted that approximately a quarter of the Latin vocabulary has been taken over by English. But among Latin borrowings we must distinguish those borrowed: 1) 1. Through immediate contact, that is orally at the early stages of language development. 2. Later borrowings which came through writing. The first are mostly monosyllabic and denote things of everyday importance while the latter are mostly long bookish words. The first are thoroughly assimilated. e. g. pear, pea, pepper, cheese, plum, butter, wine, kettle, cup, dish, line.

A number of words adopted at that period pertain to trade: cheap, pound, inch. Some wordsA number of words adopted at that period pertain to trade: cheap, pound, inch. Some words had a military flavour, for the Romans built fortifications, military camps and roads: port, street, wall, mill. 2) The second great stratum of Latin words came into English at the end of the 6 -th century when the people of England were converted to Christianity. Since Latin was the language of church many Latin words (mainly of Greek origin) denoting religious concepts came into English: altar, angel, anthem, bishop, candle, disciple, devil, martyr, priest, temple Many Latin words borrowed at that period referred to other spheres of life: cap, chest, purple, silk, belt, lily, plant, school, verse, fever, circle, lion, tiger.

3) Another big group of Latin words came through French after the Norman Conquest (1066). 3) Another big group of Latin words came through French after the Norman Conquest (1066). They are referred to as the third stratum of Latin borrowings. 4) But the greatest stream of Latin words poured into English during and after the Revival of Learning (the Renaissance). For example: terms of philosophy, mathematics, physics: diameter, fundamental, momentum, radius, vacuum; words pertaining to law and government: alibi, coroner, veto, judicial; medicine: anesthetics, diagnosis; geography: equator, continental, peninsula. Some of these words can be traced to Greek roots. Here are some abbreviations met in writing: e. g. – for example, i. e. – that is, a. m. – before noon, etc. – and so on

Greek Borrowings Greek Borrowings

The Scandinavian Elements The Scandinavian Invasion of England which proved to be of linguistic importance beganThe Scandinavian Elements The Scandinavian Invasion of England which proved to be of linguistic importance began in the 8 -th century. In 878 the Wedmore Peace Treaty was signed and according to it the Danes (the Scandinavians) occupied the “Danelaw” regions on the Northern Coast of England. In 1017 the Danes conquered the whole of England reigned over it up to 1042. The Danish settlers intermingled with the native population. The fact of both languages being Germanic facilitated mutual understanding and word borrowings; therefore it’s sometimes difficult to say whether a word is of native or Scandinavian origin.

Words are sometimes called Scandinavian if they were not met in Anglo-Saxon written documents up toWords are sometimes called Scandinavian if they were not met in Anglo-Saxon written documents up to the 11 -th century. e. g. anger, fellow, gate, husband, sky, want, window, to hit etc. Among numerous Scandinavian borrowings we find the pronouns: same, both, they and adverbs: hence, whence, thence, which ousted the OE theoran, anon, hwanon. In distinguishing Scandinavian words we may sometimes apply the criterion of sound, such as [sk] in words of Scandinavian origin: scull, scare, scream, scrape, busk where the purely English words would have [S], since the OE sc turned into sh. Then again the hard [g] and [k] sounds before i, e speak for the words of Scandinavian origin: kid.

The Norman – French Elements The French layer rates second to Latin in bulk.  ItThe Norman – French Elements The French layer rates second to Latin in bulk. It has been estimated that English owes one fourth of its vocabulary to French borrowings penetrated into English in two ways: 1. From the Norman dialect (during the 1 -st century after the Norman Conquest of 1066). 2. From the French national literary language beginning with the 15 -th century. The Normans who conquered England in 1066 (the battle at Hastings) were of Scandinavian origin (they had left their native country and seized a territory on the Northern coast of France and later adopted French language and culture). Their language differed somewhat from the central French dialect.

During two centuries after the Norman Conquest the linguistic situation in England was rather complicated: During two centuries after the Norman Conquest the linguistic situation in England was rather complicated: the feudal lords spoke the Norman dialect (Norman French), the ordinary people spoke English, scientific and religious literature was in Latin, the court documents, fiction were written in French. Latin and French were used in administration and school teaching. The Anglo-Norman dialect which was a good conductor of French words which penetrated into English in great numbers. Gradually English assimilated many French words that either ousted their Saxon equivalents or became synonymous to native words. e. g. happiness – felicity, help – aid, weak – feeble Before the Norman Conquest only a few words were borrowed (proud, turn, false, chancellor, market).

French borrowings of the 12 -16 -th centuries show both the social status of the NormanFrench borrowings of the 12 -16 -th centuries show both the social status of the Norman invaders and their supremacy in economic, cultural and political development. They are: terms of law: accuse, acquit, judge, amend, jury, prison military terms: army, peace, armour, assault, battle, powder, siege, officer, sergeant, soldier etc. religious terms: saint, miracle, charity, mercy, clergy, pray, religion trade and everyday affairs: barber, butcher, grocer, chamber, tailor, beef, veal, mutton, pleasure, leisure, comfort, delight terms of rank: duke, duchess, prince, peer

 terms of art:  beauty,  colour,  image,  design,  figure,  costume, terms of art: beauty, colour, image, design, figure, costume, garment terms of architecture: arch, tower, pillar, column, palace, castle, mansion In most cases such words were completely assimilated: e. g. the [Z] turned into [G] in words age, marriage [J] [R] design, crime long [R] gave sound [ei]: grace, blame ch [C]: chance, change, charity The stress was shifted to the first syllable. These borrowings are now in common use. Later French borrowings may be easily identified by their peculiarities of form and pronunciation. e. g. automobile, foyer, garage, machine, technique

Borrowings from other languages 1.  Celtic  borrowings  along with the  Latin Borrowings from other languages 1. Celtic borrowings along with the Latin ones belong to the most ancient ones. The Celts were the people whom the Angles, Saxons and Jutes confronted when they migrated to the British lsles in the 5 th c. AD From the Celts the conquerors got to know a number of words: down, bard, glen, bald, druid, cradle. The English language retained a lot of Celtic names of certain regions (Kent). rivers (Avon, Exe, Thames), towns, e. g. l, ondon (Llyn ‘river’ + dun ‘a fortified hill’), hills, forests and other natural features.

2.  Dutch.  In the 14 -17 -th centuries due to intense  overseas trade2. Dutch. In the 14 -17 -th centuries due to intense overseas trade with the Low Countries (the Netherlands, Flanders) which involved shipping, nautical terms were borrowed: bowsprit, dock, deck, yacht, cruise, freight, scoop, etc. words related to trade (cloth-manufacturing and brewing): bale, brick, clock, pack, spool, brandy, booze, etc. Painters’ terms such as: sketch, easel, landscape and others were adopted during the flourishing period of the Dutch school of painting in the 17 th c.

3. Italian.  The lexical items borrowed into English include loans in the fields of art,3. Italian. The lexical items borrowed into English include loans in the fields of art, music, literature, architecture, military terms, words to do with Italian life and customs, food, finance, commerce, etc: balcony, loggia, opera, sonata, aria, solo, concert, sonnet, soprano, piano; colonel, squadron; firm (commerc. ), bank (financ. , via French); carnival, gondola, macaroni, pizza, umbrella, influenza, malaria, propaganda, bandit etc.

4. Spanish.  Direct loans from Spanish and, to some  extent, from Portuguese, which have4. Spanish. Direct loans from Spanish and, to some extent, from Portuguese, which have entered English since the 16 th c. , include such as the following: embargo, cargo, armada, flotilla, breeze, renegade, guerrilla, negro, mulatto, caste, sherry, cigar, cockroach (Sp, cucaracha), etc. Via the language of the conquistadors, the Spanish conquerors in the Americas, came quite a few of the loans from the Western Hemisphere: tomato, chocolate (via French), cocoa, potato, barbecue, canoe, maize, hurricane, cannibal, tobacco, etc. 5. German: zinc, cobalt, quartz, nickel, paraffin, vitamin, kohlrabi, sauerkraut, schnitzel, schnapps, plunder, iceberg, waltz, kindergarten, leitmotif, Zeitgeist, rucksack, blitz, blitzkrieg, ablaut, etc.

6.  Russian  borrowings are subdivided into:  a) pre-Revolutionary:  samovar,  tsar, 6. Russian borrowings are subdivided into: a) pre-Revolutionary: samovar, tsar, steppe, vodka, kvass, knout, borsch, troika, steppe, verst, sable, sevruga, babushka, intelligentsia; b) post-Revolutionary: Soviet, bolshevik, kolkhoz, sputnik, perestroika, glasnost, pryzhok, etc. The age of colonialist expansion brought English into direct contact with languages from all parts of the world and resulted in numerous additions to its vocabulary, e. g. from the languages spoken on the Indian sub-continent: jungle, pyjamas, khaki, yoga, bungalow, verandah. guru, shampoo, etc. From the Malay-Polynesian and the languages of the Australian aborigines came borrowings like gong, taboo, boomerang.

Arabic:  coffee (via Turkish),  sofa,  sash,  hashish, sheikh,  emir,  harem,Arabic: coffee (via Turkish), sofa, sash, hashish, sheikh, emir, harem, sherbet, zero; Chinese: tea, silk, tycoon, kung-fu; words adopted from Japanese: kimono, bonsai, geisha, haiku, karate, kamikaze, hara-kiri; Turkish: pasha, sultan, bazaar, caftan, kiosk (via French). A number of loans came from the languages spoken by North American Indians: opossum, skunk, moccasin, tomahawk, totem, chipmunk wigwam etc.

4. The term “assimilation of a loan word” is used to denote a partial or total4. The term “assimilation of a loan word” is used to denote a partial or total conformation to the phonetic, graphical and morphological standards of the receiving language and its semantic system. The degree of assimilation depends upon: 1) the length of period during which the word has been used in the receiving language; 2) its importance for communication purpose; 3) its frequency. Oral borrowings are assimilated more completely and rapidly than literary borrowings (i. e. borrowings through written speech). Concerning the degree of assimilation of loan words we may distinguish 3 groups: completely assimilated loan words; partially assimilated loan words; non-assimilated loan words or barbarisms.

Completely assimilated words are found in all the layers of older borrowings.  Latin borrowings: Completely assimilated words are found in all the layers of older borrowings. Latin borrowings: cheese, street, wall, wine. Scandinavian loan words: husband, fellow, gate, root, call, die, take, want, happy, ill, add, wrong. French: table, chair, fall, figure, finish, matter. Completely assimilated words follow all morphological, phonetic and orthographic standards of English. They are many times greater than partially assimilated. Being very frequent and stylistically neutral, they occur as dominant words in synonymic groups. They take an active part in word-formation.

Partly assimilated words can be subdivided into several groups:  1.  Loan words not assimilatedPartly assimilated words can be subdivided into several groups: 1. Loan words not assimilated semantically because they denote objects and notions peculiar to the country from which they come: sari, sombrero, shah, rickshaw; 2. Words not assimilated grammatically (nouns borrowed from Latin and Greek, which keep their original plural forms: bacillus – bacilli, crisis – crises, phenomenon – phenomena; 3. Loan words not completely assimilated phonetically: machine, cartoon, police, regime, bourgeois; 4. Loan words not completely assimilated graphically: ballet, buffet, café.

Non-assimilated borrowings or barbarisms are words borrowed without any change in form:  addio  (Italian),Non-assimilated borrowings or barbarisms are words borrowed without any change in form: addio (Italian), tete-a-tete (French), dolce vita (Italian), A loan word never brings into the receiving language the whole of its semantic structure if it is polysemantic in the original language. The word sport can serve as an illustration. In Old French it had a much wider scope, denoting pleasure, making merry and entertainment in general. It was borrowed into Mid. E in this character but gradually acquired the additional meanings of outdoor games and exercises, and in this new meaning was borrowed into many European languages and became international. A borrowed word from Russian “Sputnic” – in Russian it has other meanings as well (спутник жизни).

5. Hybrid words Most foreign prefixes and suffixes have now become neutralized in English, and many5. Hybrid words Most foreign prefixes and suffixes have now become neutralized in English, and many derivative words are of mixed origin. Such words are called hybrids. Native root + Latin or French prefix em-body, en-dear, dis-burden, per-haps, re-call Native root + Latin or French suffix drink-able, starv-ation, word-age Latin root + English prefix a-cross, un-deceive, under-estimate Latin root + English suffix use-ful, quarrel-some, rapid-ly

6.  Sometimes a word is borrowed twice into English.  Words are derived from the6. Sometimes a word is borrowed twice into English. Words are derived from the same root but have a different meaning and form, because they developed in different ways (e. g. OE to to, too; OE ofof, off). The words shirt, shriek, share, shabby come from OE whereas their respective doublets skirt, screech, scar, scabby are etymological cognates, Scandinavian borrowings (regular variation of sh- and sc-). Such words are called etymological doublets.

These are words of the same etymological root but which came into the language by differentThese are words of the same etymological root but which came into the language by different ways: They appear due to the influence of different dialects. Two words at present slightly differentiated in meaning may have originally been dialectical variants of the same word. Thus we find in doublets the traces of old English dialects (e. g. whole (in the old sense of healthy or free from disease) and hale, raid and road). One of the doublets is native, the other is borrowed: screw (Scandinavian) – shrew (English) Both doublets may be borrowed from different languages, but these languages must be co-generic, for example: captain (Latin) – chieftain (French); senior (Latin) – sir (French); canal (Latin) – channel (French).

Etymological doublets may be borrowed from the same language but in different historical periods,  oneEtymological doublets may be borrowed from the same language but in different historical periods, one word earlier, the second later: travel (Norman borrowing) – travail (Parisian borrowing); corpse (Norman borrowing) – corps (Parisian borrowing). Both doublets are native, but one originates from the other: history – story, phantasy – fancy, defence – fence, shadow – shade. Etymological doublets are typical of English.

7. False etymology Sometimes people connect meanings of words by mistake,  they change the meaning7. False etymology Sometimes people connect meanings of words by mistake, they change the meaning of a word as a result of associating borrowed words with familiar native words which somewhat resemble them in sound but which are not related. The word standard got its modern meaning also due to false etymology (formerly it meant a flag, banner ). Then it was connected with the word to stand, and the meaning of the word was changed. Now it means norm, model.

8.  Words which have been simultaneously and successively borrowed into different languages are called international8. Words which have been simultaneously and successively borrowed into different languages are called international words. They reflect the history of world culture and convey notions which are significant in communication. New inventions, political institutions, foodstuffs, leisure activities, science, technological advances have all generated new lexemes and continue to do so: sputnik, television, gene, coffee, grapefruit, etc. Words making up the fund of international terminology are mostly Latin or Greek by origin.

Fund of International Words Greek: democracy, poem,  mathematics, analysis,  strategy, stadium,  drama, theatreFund of International Words Greek: democracy, poem, mathematics, analysis, strategy, stadium, drama, theatre and others Latin: • Medical terms: angina, tuberculosis; • Juridical words: advocate, appeal, justice; • Economic and political vocabulary: constitution, republic; • School terminology: dean, student, rector, discipline.

International words should not be confused with  pseudo-international words (false cognates,  “translator’s false friends”)International words should not be confused with pseudo-international words (false cognates, “translator’s false friends”) which have the same origin but different semantic features. The divergence in meaning can be partial: The English adjective liberal corresponds not only to Ukrainian ліберальний, but also to щедрий, багатий, гуманітариний. Complete divergence in meaning: The English word aspirant does not mean аспірант but претендент, кандидат.

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