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