years

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /jɪəz/
• (Wales, General South African, other regions) IPA^(key): /jɜːz/
• (General American) enPR: yîrz, IPA^(key): /jɪɹz/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)z, -ɜː(ɹ)z

years

1. plural of year.
   • 1981, May 5 1718-PDT, Jim McGrath, Earliest Usenet use via Google Groups: fa.sf-lovers, said with a smile at an awards ceremony in the Pennsylvania state Capitol

     It will be a shorter book and it will not start four million years ago.

   • 2013 September-October, Katie L. Burke, “In the News”, in American Scientist:

     Oxygen levels on Earth skyrocketed 2.4 billion years ago, when cyanobacteria evolved photosynthesis: the ability to convert water and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates and waste oxygen using solar energy.

years pl (plural only)

1. (colloquial, hyperbolic) A very long time.

   It took years for the bus to come.

• (unusually long time): ages, yonks, for ever, donkey’s years, donkey’s

• Areys, Ayers, Ayres, Rayes, Reays, Sayer, Sayre, arsey, ayres, eyras, resay, sayer