Most people are accustomed to defining and calculating time using the well-known words "day", "week", "month", "year". But sometimes you can meet little-used units of time. Let's talk about one of them. So, what is a decade and in what cases is this word used?
Meaning
Decade literally means a span of ten days. Synonyms will be the original Russian "ten days" and "third of the month." Based on this, it will not be difficult to understand what a decade of the month is. However, there are cases when this word is used in the meaning of "ten years". In ancient times, the concept was more common than it is now, and therefore the origins and origin of this word must be sought in antiquity. So, in ancient Greek, the word "ten" sounds like "deka", or "dekados", in Latin - "decem". In any case, there is a consonance of these words with the Russian decade, which explains its origin.
What isdecade in English The word "decade" can be both a noun and an adjective. It can mean either a span of ten days or years, or a ten-section section of a literary work.
History of use
As already mentioned, in the ancient world the word "decade" was widespread. It could mean not only ten days or years, but also ten people, soldiers, livestock units and any items.
The fact is that the word means 10, and it has some advantages over 7, 12, 24, which are used to measure time. Already in ancient times, people understood that it was more convenient to count in tens, which is why it was the decimal number system that became so popular. This is understandable: there are ten fingers on the hands, and a visual demonstration of computational operations simplified their understanding and implementation.
What does the decade symbolize?
Representatives of the early mathematical schools did not separate exact knowledge from esoteric ones. For example, the Pythagoreans endowed numbers with certain properties that describe phenomena, people and events of the surrounding world, and partly this knowledge is used today by numerologists and people who understand the Tarot card system.
It is believed that each cycle of development corresponds to nine phases: 1 - the beginning of the movement, 2 - emotional involvement, 3 - growth and expansion, 4 - stability, a sense of foundation, 5 - change, discontent, 6 - creativity and reward, 7 - challenge of the outside world, flexibility, 8 - recovery, maturity, 9 -accumulation and abundance.
Followed by the number 10, which is a bridge, a transition that unites the previous nine phases of the cycle and the beginning of a new life stage. Such a “borderline” position of ten is not accidental. From the point of view of numerologists, ten is not an independent number, since it can be reduced to one by adding the components: 10=1 + 0=1.
A decade in everyday life
The concept of a decade is found in finance and statistics, in mathematics, physics and electronics. What is the first decade of the month, you can intuitively understand by listening to the weather forecast or reading the gardener's calendar. In the first decade of the month, weather forecasters can promise warming, in the second it will be recommended to plant plants in the ground.
What is a decade is well known to astrologers who divide each month of the zodiac into three equal parts (ten days each). Based on the principle “the beginning is stronger than the end”, Taurus born in the first decade (April 21 - 30), astrologers attribute pronounced earthly qualities (hard work, perseverance, authority), in the second (May 1-10) - moderate qualities (creative abilities, stability, the ability to maintain balance in everything), in the third (May 11 - 21) - transitional qualities, when Taurus acquires the properties of the next zodiac sign - talkative and mobile Gemini.
Thus, it is useful to learn not only what a decade is, but also to get acquainted with the origin of a new word, the history and scope of its use, as well as its meanings inother peoples. A comprehensive study of the issue allows you to learn a lot of interesting things for yourself, to penetrate into the deep essence of objects and phenomena that surround us in everyday life.
