decade

English Online Dictionary. What means decade‎? What does decade mean?

English

Alternative forms

• decad (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English decade, from Old French decade, from Late Latin decādem (“(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. By surface analysis, deca- +‎ -ade. Doublet of decad.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdɛkeɪd/, (dated) /dəˈkeɪd/
• (General American) enPR: dĕk'ād, dəkād', IPA^(key): /ˈdɛkeɪd/, /dəˈkeɪd/
• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈdɛkəd/ (set of ten prayers in a Rosary)
• Rhymes: -eɪd
• Homophone: decayed (one pronunciation)

Noun

decade (plural decades)

1. A group, set, or series of ten [from 16th c.], particularly:
   1. 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.]
   2. A period of ten days, (history) particularly those in the ancient Egyptian, Coptic, and French Revolutionary calendars. [from 18th c.]
   3. (literary, archaic) A work in ten parts or books, particularly such divisions of Livy's History of Rome. [from 15th c.]
   4. (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.
   5. Any of the sets of ten sequential braille characters with predictable patterns.
   6. (electronics) A set of ten electronic devices used to represent digits.
2. (electronics) A set of resistors, capacitors, etc. connected so as to provide even increments between one and ten times a base electrical resistance.
3. (physics, engineering) The interval between any two quantities having a ratio of 10 to 1.

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, etc. refers to ten-year periods in other contexts. Similarly, a quinquennium etc. may be any five-year period, whereas pentad and quintade are used for the two halves of a calendrical decade.

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, all the years of a century with a 9 as their tens place digit.

Synonyms

• (10 year period): decennium, decennary, decenniad

Coordinate terms

• (group) monad, duad/dyad, triad, tetrad, pentad, hexad, hebdomad/heptad, ogdoad/octad, ennead/nonad, decad/decade, hendecad, dodecad/duodecade, chiliad

Derived terms

Related terms

• decadal

Translations

See also

Further reading

• “decade, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1894.

Anagrams

• deaced

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French décade (“period of ten days”), cognate with German Dekade etc. In the sense “period of ten days” influenced by English decade; this meaning is seldom found outside poor translations from English.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌdeːˈkaː.də/
• Hyphenation: de‧ca‧de
• Rhymes: -aːdə

Noun

decade f (plural decades or decaden, diminutive decadetje n)

1. (history) a décade, 'week' of ten days in the French republican calendar; hence any ten consecutive days
2. a set of ten book volumes, as part of a larger opus
3. (uncommon) a decade, period of ten years

Synonyms

• (ten years): decennium, jaartiental

Descendants

• → Indonesian: dekade

Italian

Etymology 1

From deca- +‎ -ade.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɛ.ka.de/
• Rhymes: -ɛkade
• Hyphenation: dè‧ca‧de

Noun

decade f (plural decadi)

1. a decade, a period of ten days

Related terms

• deca-
• decennio (ten years)

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /deˈka.de/
• Rhymes: -ade
• Hyphenation: de‧cà‧de

Verb

decade

1. third-person singular present indicative of decadere

Anagrams

• deceda

Latin

Noun

decāde

1. ablative singular of decās

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)

1. a series of 10 books

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (decade, supplement)

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [deˈkade]

Verb

decade

1. third-person singular present indicative of decădea