Ayard is an area of land immediately adjacent to one or morebuildings. It may be either enclosed or open.^[1] The word may come from the same linguistic root as the wordgarden and has many of the same meanings.

A number of derived words exist, usually tied to a particular usage or building type. Some may be archaic or in lesser use now. Examples of such words are:courtyard,barnyard,hopyard,graveyard,churchyard,brickyard,prison yard,railyard,junkyard,stableyard, and dooryard.^[2]

One possible account of the origin is the Middle Englishyerd, going back to Old Englishgeard "fence, enclosure, dwelling, home, district, country," going back to Germanic *garđa- (whence also Old Saxongard "garden, (compare the Frenchjardin) dwelling, world," Middle Dutchgaert "garden, yard," Old High Germangart "enclosure, circle, enclosed piece of property," Old Norsegarðr "enclosure, courtyard," Gothicgards (i-stem) "house, household, courtyard"; from an n-stem *garđan-: Old Frisiangarda "family property, courtyard," Old Saxon gardo "garden," Old High German garto), perhaps (if from *ghortós) going back to Indo-European *ghortos "enclosure," whence also Old Irishgort "arable or pasture field," Welshgarth "field, enclosure, fold," Breton garz "hedge," Latinhortus "garden," Greekchórtos "farm-yard", "feeding-place", "fodder", (from which "hay" originally as grown in an enclosed field). "Girdle," and "court" may be other related words from the same root.^[3][4]

In areas where farming is an important part of life, a yard is also a piece of enclosed land for farm animals or other agricultural purposes, often referred to as a cattleyard, sheepyard, stockyard, etc. In Australia, portable or mobile yards are sets of transportable steel panels used to build temporary stockyards.^[5]

InNorth America andAustralasia today, a yard can be any part of a property surrounding or associated with a house or other residential structure, usually (although not necessarily) separate from agarden (where plant maintenance is more formalized). A yard will typically consist mostly oflawn^[6] or play area. The yard in front of a house is referred to as a front yard, the area at the rear is known as a backyard. Backyards are generally more private and are thus a more common location for recreation. Yard size varies with population density. In urban centers, many houses have very small or even no yards at all. In the suburbs, yards are generally much larger and have room for such amenities as apatio, aplayplace for children, or aswimming pool.

InBritish English, these areas would usually be described as agarden, similarly subdivided into afront garden and aback garden. The term yard is reserved for a hard surfaced area usually enclosed or at least with limited access.^[7] In modernBritain, the term yard is also used for land adjacent to or amongst workplace buildings or for commercial premises, for exampletimberyard,boatyard ordockyard.

In North America, the term "garden" refers only to the area that contains plots of vegetables, herbs, flowers, and/orornamental plants; and the term "yard" does not refer to the "garden", although the flower garden or vegetable garden may be within the yard.^[8]

• Curtilage
• Pen (enclosure), an enclosure for domestic animals
• Scotland Yard, the location of police headquarters in London
• Terrestrial ecoregion
• Yard (disambiguation)
• Yardbird, American slang with several meanings

• Hurst, Roy; Macka, Bruce."Beef cattle yards for less than 100 head". NSW Department of Primary Industries, State of New South Wales.