In article <c92p2r$ids$2@news-reader1.wanadoo.fr>, John of Aix
<j.murphy@nospamlibertysurf.fr> wrote:
> 40b49d90$0$19642$626a14ce@news.free.fr...
> >
> > > 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)
>
> In French a decade is ten days strictly speaking and
> a decan ten years, the exact opposite of English. The French are right as
> 'decade' comes from decadi (ten days) in Latin and decan from 'decanni'
>
I don't think it's a matter of right or wrong, just who uses what, and
can the society you live in understand what you're saying. If I go up
to anyone in the USA and say it's been a decade since I've seen my
father, they are all going to think I haven't seen him in 10 years, not
10 days.
Plus, I thought the questioner was asking what 'decade' meant in
English, not in French.
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