end-of-year

The term is a modern English compound, directly constructed from the common nouns "end" and "year" connected by the preposition "of". "End" derives from Old English ende, from Proto-Germanic andja-, meaning "extremity, limit". "Year" comes from Old English gēar, from Proto-Germanic jērą, related to cycles of time. The phrase "end of year" grammaticalized into a hyphenated adjective in the 20th century, primarily within business and administrative contexts, to efficiently describe activities, assessments, or financial states occurring at the conclusion of the annual cycle. Its logic is transparently literal, denoting the temporal point where one yearly period terminates.

This is a fixed compound adjective formed from the prepositional phrase "end of year". It functions as a single lexical unit modifying a noun.