Word of the Day: YESTERYEAR

Pronunciation: UK /ˈjestəjɪə/
US /ˈjestərjɪr/

Meaning

Yesteryear is a literary or old-fashioned word for the past, especially a period when life, attitudes or customs were different. It can also refer more specifically to a past year, although that meaning is less common today.

Examples for daily usage

  • The actors of yesteryear had a very different kind of stardom.
  • She often talks about the traditions of yesteryear.
  • The old photographs brought back memories of yesteryear.

Origin and history

The word yesteryear is made up of yester- and year. The older element yester- comes from Old English and was used in words connected with the previous day or time before the present.

Interestingly, yesteryear itself is not an ancient English word. It was coined by the English poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti around 1870. Rossetti created it while translating the French poet François Villon's famous line Mais où sont les neiges d'antan?, meaning roughly “Where are the snows of yesteryear?”

The word therefore began as a poetic way of talking about a lost or vanished past and later became part of English vocabulary.

Also Read: Word of the Day, September 25: ‘Nonchalant’ 

Cultural significance and modern usage

Yesteryear usually carries a feeling of nostalgia. It is not simply another way of saying “the past”. The word often brings to mind an earlier way of life, old customs, fashions, celebrities or traditions that no longer exist in quite the same form.

It is also generally considered literary, poetic or old-fashioned, which gives it a more nostalgic tone than everyday words such as “past” or “earlier years”.

Interesting facts

The word originally had a more literal connection with the previous year, but its common modern meaning is the past in general.

The phrase “snows of yesteryear” became closely associated with the word because of Rossetti's translation of Villon's poem.

Yester- also survives in words such as yesterday, yesternight and yestereve.

Examples from literature

  • “Where…Where are the snows of yesteryear?”— Lady Chatterley's Lover, DH Lawrence
  • “The dead swept leaves the leaves of yesteryear.”— London Sonnets, Humbert Wolfe

Synonyms

  • Yore
  • The past

Antonyms

  • Present
  • Today
  • The future

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