Etymologically
Log in

annual

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 19:30. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈæn.ju.əl/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English annuel,[2][3] borrowed from Old French annuel (“yearly”),[4][5] or a learned borrowing from Late Latin annuālis,[5][4] a blend or alteration of Latin annuus and annālis “yearly”,[3][5] both from annus (“year”).[4][5] Etymonline takes annus to Proto-Italic *atno- and a root Proto-Indo-European *at- (“to go”), the year being “that which goes around”,[4] and Merriam-Webster compares Gothic aþnam “years”.[3] The same Latin word is the source of annals, anniversary, annuity and perennial.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

“Of or belonging to the year, reckoned by the year”: 1382, in Wycliffe's Bible,[7][5] the late 14th century;[4] occurring once a year is from about 1400.[4]

Semantic evolution

The noun first meant a mass said yearly on the anniversary of a person's death, from about 1400.[4] A plant that lives for only one year is from the 1680s, and a book published yearly by the same period.[4] The idea of a yearbook recording the events of the past year arose in the early 16th century.[6] The adjective's sense “recurring once every year” is from 1548,[7] and annual general meeting is a later phrase.[7] Johnson (1755) defined it as “that which comes yearly”.[8]

Timeline

  • 1382 – reckoned by the year.[7][5]
  • c. 1400 – occurring once a year; noun, a yearly mass.[4]
  • 1548 – recurring every year.[7]
  • 1680s – an annual plant; a yearly publication.[4]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Happening or done once every year; yearly.
  2. Calculated over a year: annual income.
  3. Of a plant: living for only one year or season.

Noun

  1. A plant that completes its life cycle in one growing season.
  2. A book or periodical published once a year.

Word family

  • annually
  • annualize
  • biannual
  • circannual
  • semiannual
  • triannual
  • interannual
  • annual ring
  • biennial
  • perennial
  • annals
  • anniversary
  • annuity
  • annum

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.