year-to-date
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Meaning
relating to the period from the beginning of the current year to the present time
from the beginning of the current year to the present time
Structure
Usage
The company's year-to-date revenue has exceeded expectations.
Profits are up 15% year-to-date compared to the same period last year.
She reviewed her year-to-date expenses to adjust her budget.
Etymology
The compound "year-to-date" is a modern financial and administrative term constructed from three fundamental English words. "Year" has Germanic origins, referring to the cycle of seasons. "To" is a basic preposition establishing a relational limit. "Date" originates from the Latin practice of beginning documents with "data" ("given"), referring to the specific day. Combined, they create a concise adjectival or adverbial phrase that literally means "from the year's start to the current date," used to describe cumulative figures or performance within the ongoing annual period.
Analysis
- year: From Old English 'gear', meaning a period of twelve months. - to: From Old English 'to', a preposition indicating direction or relation. - date: From Old French 'date', ultimately from Latin 'data', meaning a given point in time.