bicentennial

Etymology

It is formed from English bi- + centennial,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} and Etymonline calls it American English.^[3] The base comes from Latin centum (“a hundred”) with the ending of biennial,^[3] or, in the OED's view, from an unrecorded Latin *centennium (“a space of a hundred years”), compare biennium.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Occurring every two hundred years, or lasting two hundred years: 1828, in the Kennebec Journal of Augusta, Maine.^[2] Etymonline dates the adjective to 1843 and Merriam-Webster to 1844.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The adjective soon came to be used of a two-hundredth anniversary, as an equivalent of bicentenary.^[2][5] As a noun, the anniversary itself or its celebration, Merriam-Webster dates it to 1848, Etymonline to 1871, and the OED's first quotation is from Harper's Magazine in 1883;^[4][3][2] the OED remarks that the noun is etymologically more correct than bicentenary.^[2] According to Etymonline the word competed with bicentenary, recorded from 1840, which seems to have been the more common word in Britain.^[3]

Timeline

• 1828 – occurring every two hundred years; lasting two hundred years.^[2]
• 1848 – noun, a two-hundredth anniversary or its celebration.^[4] Etymonline dates the noun to 1871, the OED to 1883.^[3][2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A two-hundredth anniversary, or its celebration: The college marked its bicentennial with a week of lectures.^[4][2][5]

Adjective

1. Relating to a two-hundredth anniversary: a bicentennial parade.^[4][5][2]
2. Happening every two hundred years, or lasting two hundred years.^[2][5][6]

Word family

• bicentennially

Related words

• centennial
• bicentenary
• biennial

Usage notes

Bicentennial is the usual word in American English;^[7][3] British English especially uses bicentenary.^[7][3]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House