man-year

[ man-yeer ]

noun

1. a unit of measurement, especially in accountancy, based on a standard number of man-days in a year of work.

Word History and Origins

Origin of man-year¹

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

As its flagship product remained grounded, the U.S. company produced a "man-year" of data every day to try to find the root cause of the battery problems, a feat far beyond the capacity of all but the largest government safety agencies.

From Reuters

Ascertaining what they did was a 300 man-year task that was languishing until an open-source initiative got behind it.

From Forbes