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Is there a single word that means "next year"?

English Language & Usage Asked by BoxularExplodination on January 10, 2021

I remember reading a text (I think it was written in Early Modern English, so the word I’m thinking of might be kind of archaic) and seeing just one word that meant "next year," would anyone happen to know it?

I’ve Googled a fair couple of rewordings of this question and nothing has turned up (which makes me worry I’ve just misremembered reading such a word). All of the online thesauruses I’ve looked at suggest synonyms that still use two or more words ("the coming year," "the following year," etc.)

One Answer

There’s twelvemonth, which:

  • Sometimes was written as a single word

  • In some contexts meant “next year”

  • Probably met both of those criteria in Early Modern English. In any case, there are plenty of examples from Middle English, such as this one from Rolls of Parliament (1429):

    ... paiable atte Cristemas come Twelmoneth. (“payable at Christmas come twelvemonth”)

(This word still appears in some dictionaries defined as “one year” though I have never heard it used before.)

Correct answer by Laurel on January 10, 2021

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