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Glite Dictionary
year dot

year dot

9.9
A very long time ago that people can remember
  • noun
  • /jɪə dɒt/
  • UK
translation icon : desde tiempos inmemoriales
  • He has lived in this village since the year dot.

Examples

  • These rules have been in place since the year dot and have rarely been changed.

  • I haven't seen him since the year dot.

  • My grandmother has told that story since the year dot.

  • They have lived here since year dot.

  • He has lived in this village since the year dot, long before anyone can remember.

  • My grandmother has told that story since the year dot, a time when things were quite different.

  • These rules have been in place since the year dot, even before I was born.

Synonyms

from way back
vsyear dot
  • Informal
5 7.7

Since a long time ago

refers to the distant past as a time rather than continuous existence
since the year dot
vsyear dot
  • UK
9.3

For a very long time

is the informal British name for that distant past rather than a full phrase

Antonyms

recently
∞ 1.0

A short time before now

now
4 1.0

The present moment when something is happening

How Long Ago

year dot
  • UK
9.9
long ago
521 1.0
recently
∞ 1.0
the other day
267 1.7

Surface Forms

year dot singular
year dots plural

Morphology

years + dot

The meaning 'a time in the distant past' is not transparently derived from 'year' (a time period) plus 'dot' (a small point) because 'dot' carries no clear temporal sense here and the phrase is a fossilized British idiom. The overall meaning is unpredictable from the parts and thus a B1 learner who only knows the literal words would unlikely infer it.

Etymology

Year dot may come from a simple picture of time as a line with a tiny dot marking a point far in the past. One popular idea says people used that distant dot to mean 'as long ago as anyone can remember', so year dot now means that.