Path: news.nzbot.com!not-for-mail
Date: Wed, 26 May 2004 19:29:11 +0200
From: Julien Pourtet <yulinux@gmx.net>
User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird 0.6 (X11/20040506)
X-Accept-Language: en-us, en
MIME-Version: 1.0
Newsgroups: alt.languages.english
Subject: Re: adjective form of decade
References: <10amn05fml2m8ff@corp.supernews.com> <40b49d90$0$19642$626a14ce@news.free.fr> <260520040935198683%vornoffREMOVE@sonic.net>
In-Reply-To: <260520040935198683%vornoffREMOVE@sonic.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Lines: 53
Message-ID: <40b4d3e8$0$19645$626a14ce@news.free.fr>
Organization: Guest of ProXad - France
NNTP-Posting-Date: 26 May 2004 19:29:12 MEST
NNTP-Posting-Host: 81.56.200.70
X-Trace: 1085592552 news1-e.free.fr 19645 81.56.200.70:10054
X-Complaints-To: abuse@proxad.net
Xref: news.nzbot.com alt.languages.english:313
Douglas Sederberg wrote:
> In article <40b49d90$0$19642$626a14ce@news.free.fr>, Loki Harfagr
> <lars.hummigeret@yahuu.no> wrote:
>
>
>>
>>
>>>I are a engineer.
>>>
>>>Is there an adjective form of the word decade? I want to describe
>>>something that happens only once in ten years.
>>
>>"Decennial" is the word you need.
>>Remember that "decade" implies 10 *days* not 10 years
>>though many people seem to propagate the ill use :D)
>>
>
> If this usage is ill, it seems everyone in the USA is sick. I can't
> think of a single instance where 'decade' has meant 10 days and not 10
> years. It may be some official meaning, maybe in French, but if it does
> mean 10 days, it's never used that way in ordinary English.
> From an on-line dictionary:
>
> DECADE (from Gr. ~ka, ten), a group or series containing ten members,
> particularly a period of ten years. In the new calendar made at the
> time of the French Revolution in 1793, a decade of ten days took the
> place of the week. The word is also used of the divisions containing
> ten books or parts into which the history of Livy was divided.
I agree with you.
From online dictionaries:
"Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)"
Decade Dec"ade, n. F. d'ecade, L. decas, -adis, fr. Gr. ?,
fr. de`ka ten. See Ten.
A group or division of ten; esp., a period of ten years; a
decennium; as, a decade of years or days; a decade of
soldiers; the second decade of Livy. Written also decad.
During this notable decade of years. --Gladstone.
"WordNet (r) 2.0"
decade
n 1: a period of 10 years syn: decennary, decennium
2: the cardinal number that is the sum of nine and one; the
base of the decimal system syn: ten, 10, X, tenner
Hope it helps :)
--
Julien Pourtet
|
|