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]

Decade \Dec"ade\, n. [F. d['e]cade, 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.

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A decade is a period of ten years. The word is derived (via French) from the Ancient Greek dekas which means ten.

This etymology is sometime confused with the Latin decas (ten) and dies (days), which is not correct. The other words for spans of years come from Latin: lustrum (5 years), century (100 years), millennium (1000 years).

Although any period of ten years is a decade, Often, for brevity, only the tens part is mentioned (60s or sixties), although this may leave it uncertain which century is meant. These references are frequently used to encapsulate popular culture or other widespread phenomena that dominated such a decade, as in The Great Depression of the 1930s.

Some writers like to point out that since the common calendar starts from the year 1, its first full decade contained the years from 1 to 10, the second decade from 11 to 20, and so on. So while the "1960s" comprises the years 1960 to 1969, the "197th decade" spans 1961 to 1970.

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