How Long is a Decade?
A Decade is ten years. It is a commonly used term in history and other disciplines.
The word is derived from the Greek ideas of ten entities. Later, the term was adopted by the Romans.
A decade is an informal term for the ten-year periods of a calendar, whose last digits are from 0 to 9. Using decennium, decennary, or similar words is sometimes preferred.
Definition
A decade is ten years. Decades may describe any period of ten years or refer to specific groupings of calendar years.
The word derives from the Ancient Greek idea (bekas), a “group of ten.” It is cognate with German and French decade and other Latin words for spans of years.
In English, a decade is sometimes written as dZ. This results from palatalization, a sound change that turned the letter /j/ into /dZ/ in Old English.
There are two main methods of counting decades in recognition: One is to group years based on their shared tens digit, from a year ending in a 0 to a year ending in a 9; the other is to use just the tens digit and the next digit (for example, 1960-1969) or simply ’60s or sixties.
Often, this grouping is identified explicitly, as in the example above of the “1960s.” In practice, however, mentioning the tens part of a decade’s name is familiar.
Related Article: How Long is a Decade? A Decade is an Informal Term in 2023
Origin
A decade is ten years. It can be defined as any ten years, such as the ones that span a person’s life, or a grouping of calendar years, such as those that run from a year ending in 0 to one that ends in 9.
A decade is derived from the Old French decade (14c.), from the Late Latin decade (nominative decals), from Greek ideas (genitive decades), “group of ten.” It is often used as an umbrella term to cover other similar-sounding ten-year periods, such as the pentad and quiet. However, some style guides prefer that decade only refers to the ten-year calendar period whose last digits run from 0 to 9 or even a shorter one containing that particular digit.
There is a lot to be said for the etymology of a decade. Besides being a clever and fun word, it is also the most relevant of the many ten-year periods whose names you may encounter in your daily lives.
Counting
There is a disagreement about when to count a decade. Several federal agencies and astronomical bodies have weighed in on the question.
There are two ways to count decades using the Gregorian calendar, which is used worldwide. One way depends on years from 0 to 9; the other counts year from 1 to 0.
The Gregorian system, used in many countries, is based on the idea that years start with a 0 and end with a 9. It has been in use for more than 2,000 years.
Regardless of your method, remember some essential points when counting a decade. First, keep in mind that a decade is ten years.
Terminology
A decade is an idiomatic word, meaning any ten years. The term also refers to specific groupings of calendar years, such as the 1920s or the 1930s.
The word has a long history and comes from Latin. It’s also been borrowed from the French.
Some people argue that a decade is the correct term for any ten years, but others say it should only be used to describe the informal ten-year periods of the calendar with last digits ranging from 0 to 9: e.g., the 20th century, the 1960s, the 1970s, etc.
Others insist that a decade is a purely calendrical measure, starting with Year Zero, and should be defined on a date-only basis. This approach has the benefit of being simple and straightforward, says Lawrence Novick, a physicist at Harvard.
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