different between decade vs generation

English

Etymology

From Middle English [Term?], from Middle French decade, from Late Latin decas (“(set of) ten”), from Ancient Greek ????? (dekás), from ???? (déka, “ten”). In reference to a span of ten years, originally a clipping of the phrase decade of years. The word is equivalent to deca- +? -ade.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?d?ke?d/, /d??ke?d/
• (General American) enPR: d?k'?d, d?k?d', IPA^(key): /?d?ke?d/, /d??ke?d/
• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /?d?k?d/ (set of ten prayers in a Rosary)
• Rhymes: -e?d
• 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.]

      Synonym: (in some contexts) decennium
   2. A period of ten days, (historical) 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, &c. refers to ten-year periods in other contexts.

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 with all those years with a 9 in the tens place digit.

Coordinate terms

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

Related terms

• (adj.): decadal
• (10-year period; adj.; in some contexts): see decennial

Translations

See also

References

• “decade, n.”, in OED Online ?, Oxford, Oxfordshire: 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): /?de??ka?.d?/
• Hyphenation: de?ca?de
• Rhymes: -a?d?

Noun

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

1. (historical) 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

deca- +? -ade

Noun

decade f (plural decadi)

1. a decade, a period of ten days

Related terms

• deca-
• decennio (ten years)

Verb

decade

1. third-person singular indicative present of decadere

Anagrams

• deceda

Latin

Noun

dec?de

1. ablative singular of dec?s

References

• decade in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 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): [de?kade]

Verb

decade

1. third-person singular present indicative of dec?dea

English

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman generacioun, Middle French generacion, and their source, Latin gener?ti?, from gener?re, present active infinitive of gener? (“to beget, generate”). Compare generate.

Pronunciation

• (General American, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?d???n???e???n/
• Rhymes: -e???n
• Hyphenation: gen?er?a?tion

Noun

generation (countable and uncountable, plural generations)

1. The act of creating something or bringing something into being; production, creation. [from 14th c.]
   • 1832, Charles Lyell, Principles of Geology, II:

     The generation of peat, when not completely under water, is confined to moist situations.

2. The act of creating a living creature or organism; procreation. [from 14th c.]
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.10:

     So all things else, that nourish vitall blood, / Soone as with fury thou doest them inspire, / In generation seek to quench their inward fire.

   • 1626, Francis Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum:

     Generation by Copulation (certainly) extendeth not to Plants.
3. (now US, dialectal) Race, family; breed. [from 14th c.]
   • c. 1605, William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens, First Folio 1623, I.3:

     Thy Mothers of my generation: what's she, if I be a Dogge?

4. A single step or stage in the succession of natural descent; a rank or degree in genealogy, the members of a family from the same parents, considered as a single unit. [from 14th c.]

   This is the book of the generations of Adam - Genesis 5:1

   Ye shall remain there [in Babylon] many years, and for a long season, namely, seven generations - Baruch 6:3

   All generations and ages of the Christian church - Richard Hooker

5. (obsolete) Descendants, progeny; offspring. [15th-19th c.]
6. The average amount of time needed for children to grow up and have children of their own, generally considered to be a period of around thirty years, used as a measure of time. [from 17th c.]
7. A set stage in the development of computing or of a specific technology. [from 20th c.]
   • 2009, Paul Deital, Harvey Deital and Abbey Deital, iPhone for Programmers:

     The first-generation iPhone was released in June 2007 and was an instant blockbuster success.

8. (geometry) The formation or production of any geometrical magnitude, as a line, a surface, a solid, by the motion, in accordance with a mathematical law, of a point or a magnitude, by the motion of a point, of a surface by a line, a sphere by a semicircle, etc.

   the generation of a line or curve

9. A group of people born in a specific range of years and whose members can relate culturally to one another.

   Generation X grew up in the eighties, whereas the generation known as the millennials grew up in the nineties.

10. A version of a form of pop culture which differs from later or earlier versions.

    People sometimes dispute which generation of Star Trek is best, including the original and The Next Generation.

11. (television) A copy of a recording made from an earlier copy and thus further degraded in quality.
    • 2014, K. G. Jackson, G. B. Townsend, TV & Video Engineer's Reference Book

      With one-inch C format or half-inch Betacam used in the component mode, quality loss through additional generations is not such a problem. In this situation, it would be usual to make the necessary alterations while re-recording onto a third generation master […]

    • 2002, Keith Jack, Vladimir Tsatsoulin, Dictionary of Video and Television Technology (page 131)

      Each generation away from the original or master produces increased degradation in the image quality.

Hyponyms

Derived terms

• first-generation
• generationer
• second-generation
• generation gap
• generation loss

Related terms

• generate

Translations

Further reading

• generation in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• generation in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• "generation" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 140.

Anagrams

• renegation

Danish

Noun

generation c (singular definite generationen, plural indefinite generationer)

1. generation (organisms or devices born or designed at the same time)

Declension

Further reading

• “generation” in Den Danske Ordbog
• “generation” in Ordbog over det danske Sprog

Middle French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin generatio.

Noun

generation f (plural generations)

1. generation (procreation; begetting)
2. generation (rank or degree in genealogy)

Swedish

Noun

generation c

1. a generation

Declension

Related terms

• generera
• generationsväxling
• ungdomsgeneration

References

• generation in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• generation in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)