yore
/joɹ/noun
yore is spelled Y-O-R-E: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 44,767th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, yore means “A time long past” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in yore?
| Letters | 4: Y-O-R-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 44,767th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is yore?
Yore appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 44,767th 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).
How do you pronounce yore?
- UK /jɔː/
- US /joɹ/
- /jo(ː)ɹ/
Yore has one syllable (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: En-us-your.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with yore
Sounds like: yaw, you're, your (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with yore?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as yore from its last stressed vowel (/oɹ/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
What does yore mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A time long past.
This word comes from the days of yore.
adverb
- 1
obsoleteIn time long past; long ago.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Yore in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense time long past:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | jadis, antan |
| German | lange zurückliegend, eine lang zurückliegende Zeit, aus uralten Zeiten |
| Portuguese | antanho, antano |
| Spanish | antaño |
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 yore come from?
From Middle English yore, yoare, yare, ȝore, ȝare, ȝeare, from Old English ġeāra (“long ago”), of unclear origin but probably from Proto-Germanic *jērǫ̂ (literally “of years”), the genitive plural of Proto-Germanic *jērą (“year”). More at year.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).