year
/jɪə/
"year" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“year” is in the everyday core of English, ranked #117 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #117
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A period of time akin to the time taken for the Earth to undergo a full cycle of seasons.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | year |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /jɪə/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #117 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “year” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for year is 4 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /jɪə/. Corpus data places it at rank #117 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 11 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for year, with forms such as "eyar", "yaer", and "yearr". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "yr", "yet", "yes", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: 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. Cognates Cognate with Scots year (“year”), North … The correct English form is year, spelled Y-E-A-R.
Definition
- 1A period of time akin to the time taken for the Earth to undergo a full cycle of seasons.
- 2A period of time akin to the time taken for the Earth to undergo a full cycle of seasons.
- 3A period of time akin to the time taken for the Earth to undergo a full cycle of seasons.
- 4A period of time akin to the time taken for the Earth to undergo a full cycle of seasons.
- 5A period of time akin to the time taken for the Earth to undergo a full cycle of seasons.
- 6A period of time akin to the time taken for the Earth to undergo a full cycle of seasons.
- 7An orbital period: the period of one revolution in any particular orbit: 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.
- 8A 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.
- 9A scheduled part of a calendar year spent in a specific activity.
- 10A scheduled part of a calendar year spent in a specific activity.
- 11The proportion of a creature's lifespan equivalent to one year of an average human lifespan (see also dog year).
Etymology
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. Cognates Cognate with Scots year (“year”), North Frisian djooar, iir, Jaar, jeer, juar, jäär (“year”), Saterland Frisian Jíer (“year”), West Frisian jier (“year”), Bavarian Joahr, Jåar, Jåhr (“year”), Cimbrian djar, jaar (“year”), Dutch jaar (“year”), German Jahr (“year”), Limburgish jaor, Johr, Joër (“year”), Low German Johr, Jåhr (“year”), Luxembourgish Joer (“year”), Mòcheno jor (“year”), Swabian Johr (“year”), Vilamovian jür (“year”), West Flemish joar (“year”), Yiddish יאָר (yor), יאָהר (yohr, “year”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish år (“year”), Faroese, Icelandic ár (“year”), Gothic 𐌾𐌴𐍂 (jēr, “year”).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: eyar,yaer,yearr,yera,yyear
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of year - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “year”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is Y-E-A-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /jɪə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “yr” - see the side-by-side comparison. year vs yr
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.