A yard is an area of land immediately adjacent to one or more

building A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently in one place, such as a house or factory (although there's also portable buildings). Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and func ...

s. It may be either enclosed or open. The word comes from the same linguistic root as the word ''

garden A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...

'' and has many of the same meanings. A number of derived words exist, usually tied to a particular usage or building type. Some may be archaic or in lesser use now. Examples of such words are:

courtyard A courtyard or court is a circumscribed area, often surrounded by a building or complex, that is open to the sky. Courtyards are common elements in both Western and Eastern building patterns and have been used by both ancient and contemporary ...

barnyard A barnyard or farmyard is an enclosed or open yard adjoining a barn,Oxford English Dictionary Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) © Oxford University Press 2009. Barn. n. and, typically, related farm buildings, including a farmhouse. Enclosed ...

, hopyard, graveyard,

churchyard In Christian countries a churchyard is a patch of land adjoining or surrounding a church, which is usually owned by the relevant church or local parish itself. In the Scots language and in both Scottish English and Ulster-Scots, this can also ...

brickyard A brickyard or brickfield is a place or yard where bricks are made, fired, and stored, or sometimes sold or otherwise distributed from. Brick makers work in a brick yard. A brick yard may be constructed near natural sources of clay or on or ...

, prison yard, railyard, junkyard and stableyard.

Word origin

The word "yard" came from the

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened wit ...

''geard'', compare "jardin" (French) which has a Germanic origin (compare Franconian word "gardo"), "garden" (Anglo-Norman ''Gardin'', German ''Garten'') and

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...

''garðr'', Latin ''hortus'' = "garden" (hence horticulture and orchard), from Greek ' () = "farm-yard", "feeding-place", "fodder", (from which " hay" originally as grown in an enclosed field). "Girdle," and "court" are other related words from the same root. In areas where farming is an important part of life, a yard is also a piece of enclosed land for farm animals or other agricultural purpose, often referred to as a cattleyard, sheepyard, stockyard, etc. In Australia portable or mobile yards are sets of transportable steel panels used to build temporary stockyards.

Application of the term

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

and

Australasia Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecologic ...

today, a yard can be any part of a property surrounding or associated with a house or other residential structure, usually (although not necessarily) separate from a

(where plant maintenance is more formalized). A yard will typically consist mostly of lawn or play area. The yard in front of a house is referred to as a front yard, the area at the rear is known as a backyard. Backyards are generally more private and are thus a more common location for recreation. Yard size varies with population density. In urban centres, many houses have very small or even no yards at all. In the suburbs, yards are generally much larger and have room for such amenities as a patio, a playplace for children, or a swimming pool. In

British English British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Oxford Dictionaries, "English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadl ...

, these areas would usually be described as a ''

'', similarly subdivided into a '' front garden'' and a ''

back garden A back garden is a residential garden located at the rear of a property, on the other side of the house from the front garden. Such gardens have a special place in English suburban and gardening culture. Overview A back garden arises when the m ...

''. The term yard is reserved for a hard surfaced area usually enclosed or at least with limited access. In modern Britain, the term yard is also used for land adjacent to or amongst workplace buildings or for commercial premises, for example timberyard,

boatyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance a ...

or dockyard. In North America, the term "garden" refers only to the area that contains plots of vegetables, herbs, flowers, and/or ornamental plants; and the term "yard" does not refer to the "garden", although the flower garden or vegetable garden may be within the yard.

References

*Delbridge, Arthur, The Macquarie Dictionary, 2nd ed., Macquarie Library, North Ryde, 1991

External links

*{{cite web , url=http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/livestock/beef/equip/yard-design/under-100-head , title=Beef cattle yards for less than 100 head , last=Hurst , first=Roy , last2=Macka , first2=Bruce , publisher= NSW Department of Primary Industries, State of New South Wales Animal equipment Land management Types of garden

Word origin

Application of the term

See also

References

External links