What does BBY mean in Star Wars?

The Star Wars timeline is sprawling with countless movies, TV shows, and novels in the canon, so knowing your galactic jargon comes with benefits. Here’s everything you need to know about what BBY means in Star Wars.

The Star Wars movies alone cover a vast period, from the seeds of corruption during Emperor Palpatine’s rise to power to The Skywalker Saga’s end with Rey ready to nurture the next generation of Jedi.

To keep things simple, creator George Lucas decided it would be best to talk about the universe’s timeline similar to how we talk about dates in the real world. BBY might sound like nonsense on paper, but it has a simple purpose.

Let’s clarify what it stands for before we’re back in the trenches when the Andor season 2 release date arrives – here’s what BBY means in Star Wars.

What does BBY mean in Star Wars?

BBY means ‘Before the Battle of Yavin’. It’s used to date events before the destruction of the first Death Star, which took place in Star Wars A New Hope.

During the Battle of Yavin, the Rebel Alliance and Luke Skywalker landed the first major blow against the Empire when they destroyed the Death Star. It’s one of the most pivotal moments in Star Wars history, so it makes sense that it’s used as a reference. In the same vein, things that happened after are marked as ABY (‘After the Battle of Yavin’) instead of BBY.

That means everything before A New Hope’s climactic assault on the moon-sized space station is BBY. Later movies and TV series, like The Empire Strikes Back, are ABY. If you were doing space record-keeping, you’d write and say years as 1 BBY, 1 ABY, and so on. Essentially, BBY is used to help us keep track of where certain events are in the Star Wars timeline.

In upcoming Star Wars projects, we’re now far removed from A New Hope’s stirring win against the Sith. So, with that jargon cleared up, it’s time to jump into hyperspace and look to the future. The Acolyte release date is looming on the horizon, and there’s also The Mandalorian season 4 to look forward to on Disney Plus.

Find even more amazing movies and TV shows to stream this month here.