lannée

L'année is the French term for the year, a unit of time used in calendar systems to approximate the period required for the Earth to complete one orbit around the Sun. The word is pronounced with a silent h and elides to l’ before a vowel in phrases like l’année. Its etymology traces to the Latin annus, related to other languages’ terms for year.

In modern usage, a solar or tropical year is about 365.24219 days, which underpins most civil calendars. A common year has 365 days, while a leap year has 366 days to keep calendars aligned with the seasons. The Gregorian calendar, the most widely used civil calendar today, adds a leap day in years divisible by 4, except that century years are only leap years if divisible by 400. This rule smooths long-term drift and stabilizes dates relative to the equinoxes.

Beyond the solar year, other year concepts exist. A lunar year comprises roughly 354 days, formed from 12 lunar months, and is used in some cultures for religious or agricultural purposes. Lunisolar calendars combine lunar months with periodic adjustments (such as leap months) to stay aligned with the solar year.

The term l’année also appears in broader contexts, including the civil year (année civile), fiscal year (année fiscale), and academic year, which describe yearly periods used for accounting, administration, and education. In everyday language, l’année serves to situate events, plans, and histories within a named annual cycle.