Meaning of year in English
Noun
1.
(a) a period of 12 months; a period of 365 days (or 366 days in leap years) starting from January 1st to December 31st; calendar year
(b) the time it takes the Earth to orbit the Sun, approximately 365.25 days; solar year; astronomical year
A year has twelve months.
2. any period of twelve (consecutive) months
a new year
a good year
a memorable year
a happy year
a peak[record] year
a profitable year
a bad[lean] year
in ten years' times
a three(-)year plan
Thirty years is a long time.
The new year has begun.
I was born in the year 1988.
I've known him for five years.
She has the ability to learn any language in a year or two.
We have been married for ten years. ー it's been ten years since we got married. ー Ten years have passed since we got married.
3. the part of one year given to a certain kind of activity; the term of one year
a school[academic, scholastic] year
a fiscal year
the end of the fiscal year
the[this] current year
4. a set of students grouped together as being of roughly similar ages who enter and leave a school or college at the same time; grade
He is the third year in elementary school.
He is in first year at art school.
She is in her last year at school.
5.(a)｟usu. -s｠ used to talking about your age or your time of life (b ｟-s｠ age, especially old age; advanced age
a man of your years
He is seven years old. ー He is seven. ー He is seven of age. ❖× He is seven years.
a seven-year-old boy ー a boy seven years old ー a boy of seven (years)
A Japanese child starts school when he or she is seven years of age.
She looks young for her years. ー She looks younger than her years[her age, she really is]. ー She does not look her years[her age].
He is not a young man in years.
The death of her son put years on her.
Yoga took years off me. (take years off sb=make sb young) ❖ The trouble took years off my life. (take years off one's life=shorten one's life)
a person of[in] years
I'm feeling my years.
I'm getting on in years.
Years bring wisdom. (proverb)
6.(a)｟-s｠ a time in the past, present, or future (b)｟-s｠ a particular period of times, usually in the past
the Depression years
the years of the Cold War
one's early years
in the years of Napoleon
He wrote the book during his years in London.
7. ｟-s｠ a very long time
I haven't heard from her in[for] years.
It's been years since I met him.
Years of being bullied warped his personality. ー His personality became distorted because he had been bullied for many years.