yesteryear

See also: yester-year

English

Alternative forms

• yester-year

Etymology

Compound of yester- +‎ year. Coined by Dante Gabriel Rossetti in 1869 in his translation "Ballad Of Dead Ladies", to translate Middle French antan (“last year”) (in Ballad 1 of François Villon's Testament).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈjɛstəjɪə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈjɛstərjɪər/
• (General South African) IPA^(key): /ˈjestəjøː/
• (Wales, other regions) IPA^(key): /ˈjɛstəjɜː/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

yesteryear (countable and uncountable, plural yesteryears)

1. (poetic) Past years; time gone by; yore.
   • 1928, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter 5, in Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Gutenberg edition, [Florence, Italy]: [ […] Tipografia Giuntina, […]], →OCLC; republished as Lady Chatterley’s Lover (eBook no. 0100181h.html)‎^[1], Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, August 2011, archived from the original on 11 November 2020:

     It seems to me that it isn't these little acts and little connexions we make in our lives that matter so very much. They pass away, and where are they? Where…Where are the snows of yesteryear?

   • 1994 November 5, Ross Tieman, “Yachtsmen on a long-term voyage to recovery”, in The Times, number 65,104, London, page 25:

     Where Babcock has proprietary technologies, they will be preserved and developed, in so far as they help to give the company an edge over its rivals. But make no mistake, if Parker and Salmon have their way, boiler suits are the workwear of yesteryear at Babcock. Graduates, not grease-monkeys, are the typical employees of the future.

   • 2023 August 23, Pip Dunn, “The last bastion of the HST 'Castles'”, in RAIL, number 990, page 49:

     After passing Starcross and then the new […] Marsh Barton station, we soon arrive at the delightful Exeter St Davids station, which still retains much of its charm and GWR character of yesteryear.

2. (rare) Last year.

Synonyms

• (time gone by): foretime, yestertide; see also Thesaurus:the past

Derived terms

• where are the snows of yesteryear

 

Translations

times gone by

• Catalan: antany (ca)
• Dutch: weleer (nl) n, voorbije (nl) n, verleden (nl) n
• Finnish: menneet vuodet
• French: jadis (fr), antan (fr)
• German: einst (de)
• Greek: κάποτε (el) n (kápote), παλιά (el) (paliá)
• Ido: olim (io)
• Italian: passato (it) m
• Maori: raurangi
• Portuguese: outrora (pt)
• Spanish: antaño (es)
• Ukrainian: мину́вшина (uk) (mynúvšyna), мину́ле n (mynúle)
• Vietnamese: xưa (vi), thời xưa (vi), ngày xưa (vi)
• Welsh: llynedd f

last year — see also last year

• Armenian: հերու (hy) (heru)

  Old Armenian: հերու (heru)

• Basque: iaz (eu)
• Bulgarian: лани (bg) (lani)
• Catalan: antany (ca) m
• Czech: loni (cs)
• Danish: i fjor
• Dutch: gisterjaar n
• Faroese: í fjør
• Finnish: mennyt vuosi
• French: année passée, an passé, année dernière, an dernier
• German: Vorjahr (de) n
• Greek: πέρυσι (el) n (pérysi)

  Ancient: πέρυσι (pérusi)

• Hebrew: אשתקד (he) (eshtakád)
• Hungarian: tavaly (hu)
• Icelandic: í fyrra
• Irish: anuraidh
• Italian: anno (it) scorso (it)
• Japanese: 去年 (ja) (Kyonen)
• Korean: 작년 (ko) (jangnyeon)
• Latvian: pērn, pērngad
• Low German:

  German Low German: Vörjohr n

• Maori: tauhouanga, tauhounga
• Middle High German: vert
• Norwegian: i fjor
• Old Norse: fjǫrð
• Old Swedish: fiordh
• Persian: دیسال (disâl)
• Portuguese: ano passado m, antanho (pt) m
• Russian: в прошлом году (v prošlom godu)
• Sanskrit: परुत् (sa) (parut)
• Serbo-Croatian: lani (sh), лани
• Slovak: vlani
• Slovene: láni (sl)
• Spanish: antaño (es) m, año pasado m
• Swedish: i fjol (sv), i fjor (sv)
• Turkish: bıldır (tr)
• Ukrainian: торі́к (uk) (torík), мину́лого ро́ку (mynúloho róku)
• Welsh: llynedd f

See also

• yesterday
• bygone