centennial

Etymology

It is from Latin centum (“a hundred”) with the ending of biennial, formed in English.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} Dictionary.com describes that ending as pertaining to a period of years and taken from biennial,^[8] and Klein connects it with annus (“year”).^[9] The OED, revising its entry in 2016, derives it instead from post-classical Latin centennium (“a period of a hundred years”) with the suffix -al, and compares the earlier centenary.^[10] The Latin numeral is related to hundred.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lasting or existing for a hundred years: about 1720, in a Letter by "Philobritannus", in the OED's revised entry.^[10] Etymonline dates the adjective to 1789,^[2] Dictionary.com to 1790–1800,^[8] and Barnhart to before 1797.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From the sense of a hundred years' duration the adjective came to be used of a year whose number is divisible by 100 (1758), and of what happens every hundred years or marks a hundredth anniversary (1797).^[10] The noun, a hundredth anniversary or its celebration, is recorded by the OED from 1791,^[10] while Etymonline and Barnhart date it to 1876,^[2][3] when Howells used it in the Atlantic Monthly around the centenary of the United States;^[3][11] the older noun is centenary.^[2] The OED notes that the duration sense is now somewhat rare.^[10] Colorado, admitted as a state in 1876, is called the Centennial State.^[4] Merriam-Webster also records centennial as the name of a dice game.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1720 – lasting or existing for a hundred years.^[10] Etymonline dates the adjective to 1789.^[2]
• 1758 – of a year, having a number divisible by 100.^[10]
• 1791 – noun, a hundredth anniversary or its celebration.^[10] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster date the noun to 1876.^[2][11]
• 1797 – happening every hundred years; marking a hundredth anniversary.^[10][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Relating to or marking a hundredth anniversary: a centennial exhibition.^[11][8]
2. Lasting for, or completing, a period of a hundred years; a hundred years old.^[7][11][8]
3. Happening once every hundred years.^[7][10]

Noun

1. A hundredth anniversary or its celebration; a centenary: The town held a parade for its centennial.^[11][7][8]
2. A dice game in which two players try to throw the numbers from 1 to 12 and back again in sequence.^[11]

Word family

• centennially
• semicentennial
• quasquicentennial
• sesquicentennial
• bicentennial
• tricentennial
• quadricentennial
• quincentennial

Related words

• centenary
• biennial
• annual
• century
• cent

Usage notes

Collins labels the noun chiefly American and Canadian, where British English prefers centenary.^[7]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ a b c d e Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster