- yea
- O.E. gea (W.Saxon), ge (Anglian) "so, yes," an affirmative word in Germanic, cognate with Ger., Dan., Norw., Swed. ja.
- yeah
- Amer.Eng., colloquial, 1905, from drawling pronunciation of yes.
- yean
- O.E. eanian "to bring forth" (young), especially in ref. to sheep or goats, from P.Gmc. *agwnojanan (cf. Du. oonen), perhaps from PIE *agwhnos "lamb" (cf. Gk. amnos "lamb," L. agnus, O.C.S. agne, O.Ir. van, Welsh oen). Yeanling "young lamb, kid" is recorded from 1637.
- year
- O.E. gear (W.Saxon), ger (Anglian) "year," from P.Gmc. *jæram "year" (cf. O.S., O.H.G. jar, O.N. ar, Dan. aar, O.Fris. ger, Du. jaar, Ger. Jahr, Goth. jer "year"), from PIE *yer-o-, from base *yer-/*yor- "year, season" (cf. Avestan yare (nom. sing.) "year;" Gk. hora "year, season, any part of a year," also "any part of a day, hour;" O.C.S. jaru, Boh. jaro "spring;" L. hornus "of this year;" O.Pers. dušiyaram "famine," lit. "bad year"). Probably originally "that which makes [a complete cycle]," and from verbal root *ei- meaning "to do, make." Yearling is first attested 1465; yearly is O.E. gearlic (cf. Ger. jährlich).
- yearbook
- 1588, "book of reports of cases in law-courts for that year," from year + book. Meaning "book of events and statistics of the previous year" is recorded from 1710. Sense of "graduating class album" is attested from 1926, Amer.Eng.
- yearn
- O.E. geornan (Mercian), giernan (W.Saxon), giorna (Northumbrian), from P.Gmc. *gernijanan (cf. Goth. gairnjan "to desire," Ger. begehren "to desire"), from base *gernaz (cf. O.H.G. gern, O.N. gjarn "desirous," O.E. georn "eager, desirous," Ger. gern "gladly, willingly"), from PIE base *gher- "to like, want" (see hortatory).
- yeast
- O.E. gist "yeast," common W.Gmc. source (cf. M.H.G. gest, Ger. Gischt "foam, froth," O.H.G. jesan, Ger. gären "to ferment"), from PIE *jes- "boil, foam, froth" (cf. Skt. yasyati "boils, seethes," Gk. zein "to boil," Welsh ias "seething, foaming").
- leap year
- M.E., from leap (v.) + year. So called from its causing fixed festival days to "leap" ahead one day in the week.
- light year
- also light-year, lightyear, "distance light travels in one year," 1888, from light (n.) + year.
- New Year's Eve
- c.1300; "şer şay dronken & dalten ... on nwe gerez euen." The Julian calendar began on January 1, but the Christian Church frowned on pagan celebrations of this and chose the Feast of the Annunciation (March 25) as its New Year's Day. The civic year in England continued to begin January 1 until late 12c., and even though legal documents then shifted to March 25, popular calendars and almanacs continued to begin on January 1. The calendar reform of 1751 restored the Julian New Year. New Year's was the main midwinter festival in Scotland from 17c., when Protestant authorities banned Christmas, and continued so after England reverted to Christmas, hence the Scottish flavor ("Auld Lang Syne," etc.). New Year's gathering in public places began 1878 in London, after new bells were installed in St. Paul's.
- seven-year itch
- 1899, Amer.Eng., some sort of skin condition (sometimes identified with poison ivy infection) that either lasts seven years or returns every seven years. Jocular use for "urge to stray from marital fidelity" is attested from 1952, as the title of the Broadway play (made into a film, 1955) by George Axelrod (1922-2003), in which the lead male character reads an article describing the high number of men have extra-marital affairs after seven years of marriage.
- yesteryear
- coined 1870 by Dante Gabriel Rossetti from yester(day) + year to translate Fr. antan (from V.L. *anteannum "the year before") in a refrain by François Villon: Mais ou sont les neiges d'antan? which Rossetti rendered "But where are the snows of yesteryear?"