sexennium

English

Etymology

From Latin sexennium, from sexennis (“6-year”) + -ium (suffix forming abstract nouns).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /sɛkˈsɛniəm/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /sɛkˈsɛnɪəm/

Noun

sexennium (plural sexenniums or sexennia)

1. A period of six years.

   Coordinate terms: annum, biennium, triennium, quadrennium, quinquennium, septennium, octennium, novennium, decennium, vicennium, tricennium, centennium, quincentennium, millennium, decamillennium, centimillennium, millionennium

Synonyms

• sexennate

Hypernyms

• See sextet

Related terms

• (adj.) sexennial

References

• “sexennium, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022.

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [sɛkˈsɛn.ni.ũː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [seɡˈzɛn.ni.um]

Etymology 1

From sexennis (“of six years; six years old”) +‎ -ium.

Noun

sexennium n (genitive sexenniī or sexennī); second declension

1. a period of six years, sexennium
   • c. 194 BCE, Plautus, Poenulus prologus.0.66–69:

     Sed illi seni qui mortuost, ei filius,
     unicus qui fuerat, ab divitiis a patre
     puer septuennis surripitur Carthagine,
     sexennio prius quidem quam moritur pater.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 44 BCE – 43 BCE, Cicero, Philippicae V.6.7:

     Hoc ne Cotyla quidem dicere auderet. Quid enim in eum non cadit, qui, cuius acta se defendere dicit, eius eas leges pervertit, quas maxime laudare poteramus? Ille paludes siccare voluit, hic omnem Italiam moderato homini, L. Antonio, dividendam dedit. Quid? hanc legem populus Romanus accepit, quid? per auspicia ferri potuit? Silet augur verecundus sine collegis de auspiciis. Quamquam illa auspicia non egent interpretatione; Iove enim tonante cum populo agi non esse fas quis ignorat? Tribuni plebi tulerunt de provinciis contra acta C. Caesaris, ille biennium, hi sexennium. Etiam hanc legem populus Romanus accepit? quid? promulgata fuit, quid? non ante lata quam scripta est, quid? non ante factum vidimus, quam futurum quisquam est suspicatus?

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	sexennium	sexennia
genitive	sexenniī sexennī1	sexenniōrum
dative	sexenniō	sexenniīs
accusative	sexennium	sexennia
ablative	sexenniō	sexenniīs
vocative	sexennium	sexennia

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Coordinate terms

• (2-year period): biennium
• (3-year period): triennium
• (4-year period): quadriennium
• (5-year period): quīnquennium
• (7-year period): septuennium
• (8-year period): octennium
• (9-year period): novennium
• (10-year period): decennium

Descendants

• → Catalan: sexenni
• → English: sexennium
• → Italian: sessennio
• → Spanish: sexenio

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Adjective

sexennium

1. genitive masculine/feminine/neuter plural of sexennis

References

• “sexennium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “sexennium”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “sexennium”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.