period

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈpɪə.ri.əd/, US /ˈpɪr.i.əd/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English periode (also pariode),^[2][3] borrowed from Middle French periode,^[2][3][4] and directly from Medieval Latin periodus (“recurring portion, cycle”),^[2][3] from Latin periodus (“a complete sentence; the cycle of the Greek games”),^[2][3][5] from Ancient Greek περίοδος (períodos, “circuit, cycle, orbit; rounded sentence”),^[2][3][6] literally “a going around”, formed from περί (perí, “around”) and ὁδός (hodós, “way, journey”).^[3][5][6] The AHD explains that Greek períodos in rhetoric meant a group of words related in grammar and sense, and in Medieval Latin it came to mean the punctuation mark at the end of such a group.^[5] It is related to episode, exodus and method.^[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A course or extent of time, the time during which something runs its course: 1413;^[2][7] Etymonline gives the early 15th century, also for the cycle of recurrence of a disease.^[3][8]

Semantic evolution

The idea of a repeated cycle of events led to that of an interval of time.^[3] The sense “portion of time” is from the early 16th century,^[8] and an indefinite part of a continuing state or series of events from 1712.^[3][7] A round of years marked by the recurrence of astronomical events is from 1613,^[7] and the time of a revolution of a heavenly body by 1727.^[3] The time during which a disease runs its course is from 1543.^[7] Menstruation is a period by 1829, probably short for period of menstruation (1808).^[3] In rhetoric a period was a complete sentence, then from the 1580s the full pause at the end of it,^[3] and about 1600 the dot that marks the end of a sentence;^[3] the AHD dates this sense to 1609.^[5] Word Origins notes that this sense is now chiefly American, the British using full stop.^[8] A portion of the school day set apart for a lesson is from 1876,^[3] and a division of a game from 1898.^[3] The adjective, as in period costume, is from 1905,^[3][9] and period piece from 1911.^[3]

Timeline

• 1413 – a course or extent of time.^[2][7]
• 1543 – the course of a disease.^[7]
• 1580s – a full pause at the end of a sentence.^[3]
• c. 1600 – the punctuation mark.^[3]
• 1613 – an astronomical cycle.^[7]
• 1712 – a portion of history.^[3][7]
• 1829 – menstruation.^[3]
• 1876 – a lesson in school.^[3]
• 1898 – a division of a game.^[3]
• 1905 – adjective.^[3][9]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. An interval of time marked by a certain condition or event.
2. A distinct age or era of history or culture.
3. (geology) A unit of time longer than an epoch and shorter than an era.
4. A portion of time into which a school day or a game is divided.
5. (physics) The time taken by one complete cycle of a regular motion.
6. An instance of menstruation.
7. (chiefly US) A full stop.
8. (rhetoric) A complete sentence, especially an elaborate one.

Adjective

1. Of or representing a certain historical time: period furniture.

Word family

• periodical
• photoperiod
• subperiod
• periodization

Related words

• periodic
• periodicity
• episode
• exodus
• method
• odometer
• synod

Usage notes

The American Heritage Dictionary compares period, the most general term, with epoch, era, age and term.^[10]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
6. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin