the.com/centennial
The birthday that requires a parade, a plaque, and at least one person older than it.
means An event marking the 100th anniversary of something — or, as an adjective, describing something that has lasted or occurred a full century.
from Built from Latin centum, 'hundred,' plus annus, 'year' — the same 'annus' that gives us annual and anniversary. The word is American in flavor, rising to prominence around the 1876 celebration of a hundred years of U.S. independence, which helped stamp 'centennial' into everyday vocabulary as the go-to word for grand, round-number birthdays.
- origin
- Latin centum plus annus, hundred years
- first big one
- US centennial, 1876, debuted the telephone
- next up
- Many flags, nations, companies turning 100 this decade
- bonus term
- sesquicentennial means you waited 150 years