mehrjähriger

Mehrjährig is an adjective in German meaning lasting or extending over several years. It is used to describe objects, plans, contracts, funding, or periods whose duration spans more than one year. In both everyday and formal language, it appears in phrases such as mehrjähriger Vertrag (multi-year contract), mehrjährige Investition (multi-year investment), mehrjährige Förderperiode (multi-year funding period), or mehrjähriges Programm (multi-year program). The sense depends on context and can refer to a span of two years or more, often contrasted with einjährig (one-year) or kurzfristig (short-term) and langfristig (long-term).

Grammatical notes: mehrjährig declines like other adjectives in German. With an indefinite article, examples include ein mehrjähriger Vertrag (masculine nominative), ein mehrjähriges Programm (neuter nominative), or eine mehrjährige Strategie (feminine nominative). In the plural: mehrjährige Verträge. The word is primarily used in written and formal contexts, especially in business, legal, and policy language, but it also appears in official reports and press releases.

Etymology: the term is formed from mehr (more, several) and jahrig (yearly, from Jahr) with the adjectival suffix -ig. It conveys a temporal scope that is explicitly more than a single year.

Comparison: mehrjährig is more specific about the number of years than long-term. While synonyms such as langfristig emphasize duration, mehrjährig stresses that the period spans multiple years. It is not typically used as a standalone noun; instead, it modifies a noun, as in der mehrjährige Vertrag or das mehrjährige Programm.