Indeed both terms can loosely be used interchangeably, and may thus be maintained by a yardman (either groundsman or gardener); in a minor, he is called yardboy.

A number of derived words exist, usually tied to a particular usage or building type. Some are now archaic. Examples of such words are courtyard, farmyard, and stableyard.

In North America and Australia today, a yard is any part of a property surrounding or associated with a residential structure, usually (although not necessarily) separate from a garden (where plant maintenance is more formalized). A yard will typically consist mostly of lawn 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 centres, 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 a patio or swimming pool.

In British English, the above description would describe a garden, similarly subdivided into a front-garden and a back-garden. In modern Britain, the term yard is often used for depots and land adjacent to or among workplace buildings.

The word "yard" came from Anglo-Saxon geard, compare "garden" (German Garten), Old Norse garðr, Russian gorod = "town" (originally as an "enclosed fortified area"), Latin hortus = "garden", Greek χορτος = "hay" (originally as grown in an enclosed field). Gardening | Hof (Architektur) | Couor | Dziedziniec