decade
English
Etymology
From Middle English [Term?], from Middle French decade, from Late Latin decas (“(set of) ten”), from Ancient Greek δεκάς (dekás), from δέκα (déka, “ten”). In reference to a span of ten years, originally a clipping of the phrase decade of years. The word is equivalent to deca- + -ade.
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 331: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "RP" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˈdɛkeɪd/, /dəˈkeɪd/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 331: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "GA" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. enPR: dĕk'ād, dəkād', IPA(key): /ˈdɛkeɪd/, /dəˈkeɪd/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 331: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "RP" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˈdɛkəd/ (set of ten prayers in a Rosary)
Audio (GA): (file) Audio (AU): (file) - Rhymes: -eɪd
- Homophone: decayed (one pronunciation)
Noun
decade (plural decades)
- A group, set, or series of ten [from 16th c.], particularly:
- a decade of soldiers
- A period of ten years [from 17th c.], particularly such a period beginning with a year ending in 0 and ending with a year ending in 9. [from 19th c.]
- Synonym: (in some contexts) decennium
- The 1960s was a turbulent decade.
- I haven’t seen my cousin in over a decade!
- 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page viii:
- The repeated exposure, over decades, to most taxa here treated has resulted in repeated modifications of both diagnoses and discussions, as initial ideas of the various taxa underwent—often repeated—conceptual modification.
- 1979 December, “Museums”, in Texas Monthly, volume 7, number 12, page 22:
- Thru May: 1920s — The Decade That Roared. New exhibition portraying historical events and everyday life during the Roaring Twenties.
- 2013 March, David S. Senchina, “Athletics and Herbal Supplements”, in American Scientist[1], volume 101, number 2, page 134:
- Athletes' use of herbal supplements has skyrocketed in the past two decades.
- 2020 January 2, Paul Stephen, “A great place to work”, in Rail, page 29:
- Some of these employees have been with the company for decades, which made the company's claims that it offers good training, positive management and excellent job security and benefit packages all the more compelling.
- A period of ten days, (history) particularly those in the ancient Egyptian, Coptic, and French Revolutionary calendars. [from 18th c.]
- 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 481:
- The year was divided up into twelve months renamed after the seasons [...]; each month comprised three ‘decades’ of ten days – with the décadi replacing Sundays as a day of rest; and each day was reconsecrated to a natural product or farming tool or technique.
- (literary, archaic) A work in ten parts or books, particularly such divisions of Livy's History of Rome. [from 15th c.]
- (Roman Catholicism) A series of prayers counted on a rosary, typically consisting of an Our Father, followed by ten Hail Marys, and concluding with a Glory Be and sometimes the Fatima Prayer.
- Any of the sets of ten sequential braille characters with predictable patterns.
- (electronics) A set of ten electronic devices used to represent digits.
- (electronics) A set of resistors, capacitors, etc. connected so as to provide even increments between one and ten times a base electrical resistance.
- (physics, engineering) The interval between any two quantities having a ratio of 10 to 1.
- There are decades between 1.8 and 18, between 25 and 250 and between 0.03 and 0.003.
Usage notes
Although a decade may refer to any group of ten years, it often particularly refers to the informal ten-year periods of the calendar whose last digits run from 0 to 9. Some style guides may prefer that decade refers exclusively to such calendar periods while decennium, decennary, &c. refers to ten-year periods in other contexts.
It should be noted that the method of computing a decade is distinguished from the proper computation of centuries and millennia, which run from 1 to 0. The 1st century began with the year 1 and ended with the year 100, but "the Nineties" are the years whose name includes the word ninety, from '90 to '99 with all those years with a 9 in the tens place digit.
Coordinate terms
- monad · duad, dyad · triad · tetrad · pentad · hexad · heptad · octad · ennead, nonad · decad, decade · hendecad · dodecad, duodecade
Related terms
Translations
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See also
22nd century | 2100s · 2110s · 2120s · 2130s · 2140s · 2150s · 2160s · 2170s · 2180s · 2190s |
---|---|
21st century | 2000s · 2010s · 2020s · 2030s · 2040s · 2050s · 2060s · 2070s · 2080s · 2090s |
20th century | 1900s · 1910s · 1920s · 1930s · 1940s · 1950s · 1960s · 1970s · 1980s · 1990s |
19th century | 1800s · 1810s · 1820s · 1830s · 1840s · 1850s · 1860s · 1870s · 1880s · 1890s |
18th century | 1700s · 1710s · 1720s · 1730s · 1740s · 1750s · 1760s · 1770s · 1780s · 1790s |
14th century | 1300s · 1310s · 1320s · 1330s · 1340s · 1350s · 1360s · 1370s · 1380s · 1390s |
Decade only | 00s · 10s · 20s · 30s · 40s · 50s · 60s · 70s · 80s · 90s |
'00s · '10s · '20s · '30s · '40s · '50s · '60s · '70s · '80s · '90s | |
00's · 10's · 20's · 30's · 40's · 50's · 60's · 70's · 80's · 90's | |
zeros/zeroes or aughts/noughties/oughts · oneties/tens/teens · twenties · thirties · forties · fifties · sixties · seventies · eighties · nineties | |
Nicknames | Gay Nineties · Naughty Nineties · Roaring Twenties · Dirty Thirties · Swinging Sixties |
References
- “decade, n.”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1894.
Anagrams
Dutch
Etymology
From French décade, cognate with German Dekade etc.
Pronunciation
Audio: (file)
Noun
decade f (plural decades or decaden, diminutive decadetje n)
- a decade, period of ten years
- (history) a décade, 'week' of ten days in the French republican calendar; hence any ten consecutive days
- a set of ten book volumes, as part of a larger opus
Synonyms
Italian
Etymology
Noun
decade f (plural decadi)
Related terms
Verb
decade
Anagrams
Latin
Noun
(deprecated template usage) decāde
References
- decade in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
Middle French
Noun
decade f (plural decades)
- a series of 10 books
References
- Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle (1881) (decade, supplement)
Romanian
Pronunciation
Verb
decade
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle French
- English terms derived from Late Latin
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English terms prefixed with deca-
- English terms suffixed with -ad
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/eɪd
- English terms with homophones
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- en:History
- English literary terms
- English terms with archaic senses
- en:Roman Catholicism
- en:Electronics
- en:Physics
- en:Engineering
- en:Ten
- en:Time
- Dutch terms derived from French
- Dutch terms with audio links
- Dutch lemmas
- Dutch nouns
- Dutch nouns with plural in -s
- Dutch nouns with plural in -en
- Dutch feminine nouns
- nl:History
- Italian terms prefixed with deca-
- Italian terms suffixed with -ade
- Italian lemmas
- Italian nouns
- Italian countable nouns
- Italian feminine nouns
- Italian non-lemma forms
- Italian verb forms
- it:Time
- Latin non-lemma forms
- Latin noun forms
- Middle French lemmas
- Middle French nouns
- Middle French feminine nouns
- Middle French countable nouns
- Romanian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Romanian non-lemma forms
- Romanian verb forms