yardstick
/ˈjɑɹdˌstɪk/noun
yardstick is a noun meaning “A measuring rod thirty-six inches (one yard) long” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled Y-A-R-D-S-T-I-C-K and has 2 syllables, and it appears about once in every 2 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of yardstick is yardsticks.
What does yardstick mean?
noun
- 1
A measuring rod thirty-six inches (one yard) long.
- 2
A standard to which other measurements or comparisons are judged.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce yardstick?
- UK /ˈjɑːdˌstɪk/
- US /ˈjɑɹdˌstɪk/
Yardstick has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-AnotherFriendlyHuman-yardstick.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of yardstick
- yardsticks plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is yardstick?
Yardstick appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 42,145th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Yardstick in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| Spanish | vara, reglón , norma |
| French | aune, mètre étalon |
| German | Maßstab |
| Portuguese | parâmetro, critério, padrão, bitola |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does yardstick come from?
From yard + stick.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).