Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A year-long period of travel; especially succeeding one’s education and prior unto seeking employment
  • noun historical A year spent by an apprentice travelling and honing his skills prior unto the professional practice of his trade

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From German Wanderjahr journeyman’s year, from wandern to trek + Jahr year — “Year of Trekking”

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Examples

  • In a kind of wanderjahr prolonged for decades, young people will try out jobs on a temporary basis, float in and out of their parents 'homes, hit the Europass-and-hostel circuit, pick up extra courses and degrees, and live with different people in different places.

    The Coming Death Shortage 2005

  • In a kind of wanderjahr prolonged for decades, young people will try out jobs on a temporary basis, float in and out of their parents 'homes, hit the Europass-and-hostel circuit, pick up extra courses and degrees, and live with different people in different places.

    The Coming Death Shortage 2005

  • Her owner of record, a House Director's whelp on wanderjahr, had become bored with his pretty toy and had discarded her, without documentation, her only assets those designed into her fragile body.

    The Dragon Never Sleeps Cook, Glen 1988

  • After the University and after my _wanderjahr_, I thought it would be another easy task to come here, and 'learn the business.'

    The Return of Peter Grimm Novelised From the Play David Belasco 1892

  • Probably he will return to the drapery shop in which he has hitherto been an assistant, after a pleasant wanderjahr with the company.

    Diversions in Sicily Henry Festing Jones 1889

  • Perhaps when you were 22, on your wanderjahr, the appeal of connecting with strangers in strange lands overrode concerns for your own safety.

    CNET News.com 2010

  • The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is less picaresque or lifelong wanderjahr than a hybrid "Forrest Button."

    Movie City News 2009

  • The eager James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg) has just graduated from Oberlin and is ready for a post-collegiate wanderjahr across Europe.

    The Minnesota Daily - mndaily.com 2009

  • Say you’re a rich kid from the future on wanderjahr.

    365 tomorrows » 2006 » November : A New Free Flash Fiction SciFi Story Every Day 2006

  • Say you’re a rich kid from the future on wanderjahr.

    365 tomorrows » Once in a Lifetime : A New Free Flash Fiction SciFi Story Every Day 2006

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