Bissextile

lulu · 04-24-2005, 01:06 PM

Today's Word:
Bissextile(Adjective)

Pronunciation: [bI-'seks-tIL]

(1) referring to a leap year or (2) the extra day in a leap year," such as was yesterday.

Usage 1: Gotcha! Today's word has absolutely nothing to do with gender differences. As you can see from the Etymology, it refers only to leap year or the intercalary (extra) day of a leap year. If you are in a hurry, you may refer to the extra day simply as the "bissext," though "bissextus" is probably the more easily pronounced.

Suggested usage: For those of you born on February 29, here is something you can't get away with, "The reason Gilliam is 10 but looks 40 is that he was born in a bissextile year and only has birthdays every 4 years." That simply doesn't work, however logical it might seem. 2004 has a bissectus (yesterday) and hence is a bissextile year.

Etymology: This word comes from Latin bissextilis "having an intercalary day" from the first word of the phrase bis sextus (dies) "twice the sixth day," from bis "twice" and sextus "sixth." The phrase arises from the fact that the sixth day before the Calends of March (February 24} occurred twice every leap year in the Roman calendar. Thus this "sex" comes from the Latin word for "six," which shares the same origin as German "sechs," Dutch "zez," Spanish "seis," French "six," Italian "sés," Russian "shest'," and Classical Greek "hex" (remember "semi-" and "hemi-"?) Many words come from the Latin and Greek versions of this root: "sextet," "sextillion," and "hexagonal." "Siesta" was inherited by Spanish from the Romans, by whose timepieces midday was 6 o'sundial. (All of us at yourDictionary wish all of you a most Happy Bissextus, especially E. B. Holschuh and his language students, who are celebrating the occasion with a Bissextile Party at Mansfield High School in M ansfield, Texas.)

—Dr. Language, yourDictionary.com

HMMM....never heard of this one!

tiffysmom · 04-24-2005, 03:03 PM

I thought there was no word for that in English because, the same word applies for the same thing is it called bisiexto(beeseeaxto) that means that the year has 366 days.

chickiepoo · 05-04-2005, 08:13 PM

You two are too smart for me!
That's not something I would have even thought to think of.

Ellie

Polly · 05-05-2005, 04:55 AM

Ok, way over my head!! Do you read the dictionary for fun or what??

. Thanks for the lesson, somebody has to teach me something new.

chickiepoo · 05-05-2005, 02:54 PM

You and me both, Polly-wolly doodle whatch'a doin' all day?

my friend Ellie

Tracee · 03-26-2006, 09:30 PM

Wow there is a word to desribe leap year i am so lucky.