We’re often asked what is the name or symbol of an anniversary of an event which do tend to vary depending upon the actual event e.g. if we were asked what is the 50th Anniversary we would say ‘Golden’ this is because we specialise in Wedding Anniversaries and 50 years is a Golden Wedding.
If you want a full list of Wedding Anniversaries then see our Wedding Anniversary Traditional List as a starting point.
This however is not always the case as often the events also have other names which this post should hopefully clarify! The technical terms are more often than not derived from the Latin terms for the period.
The Latin phrase “dies natalis” has become a common term, adopted in many languages for the anniversary of an institution’s founding. This includes alma maters such as colleges or other schools that have been around since ancient times like Rome where they celebrated this day with festivals and rituals to honour their Patron Goddesses whom we know today as Juno/Iunona ( excuse my pronunciation).
Anniversary | Technical Term to use | Other Terms Used | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Every Month | Monthly | Technically these are not anniversaries as less than a year has passed. | |
Every 3 months | Quarterly | ||
Twice Yearly (every 6 months) | Bi-annual | ||
1 year | Annual | ||
2 years | Biennial | ||
3 years | Triennial | ||
4 years | Quadrennial | ||
5 years | Quinquennial | ||
6 years | Sexennial | ||
7 years | Septennial | ||
8 years | Octennial | ||
9 years | Novennial | ||
10 years | Decennial | ||
11 years | Undecennial | ||
12 years | Duodecennial | ||
13 years | Tredecennial | ||
14 years | Quattuordecennial | ||
15 years | Quindecennial | ||
20 years | Vigintennial | ||
25 years | – | Silver Jubilee* | |
50 years | Quinquagenary | Golden Jubilee* | |
60 years | Sexagennial | Diamond Jubilee* | |
70 years | Septuagennial | ||
75 years | Dequascentennial | Diamond Jubilee | Latin contraction of de-quadrans which means “a whole unit less a quarter” (de means “from”; quadrans means “quarter”. 75 years is a quarter century less than a whole century or 75 = (-25 + 100) |
100 years | Centenary | ||
150 years | Sesquicentennial | Term broken down as sesqui- (one and a half) centennial (100 years) | |
175 years | Dequasbicentennial | Dodrabicentennial | Alternative Latin form |
200 years | Bicentennial | ||
250 years | Sestercentennial | To express 2½ in Latin it would be expressed as “half-three”. The term relates to being halfway [from the second] to the third integer. In Latin this is “Sestertius” which is a contraction of semis (halfway) tertius (third) – hence Sestercentennial. | |
300 years | Tercentennial | Tricentennial | |
400 years | Quadricentennial | Quatercentenary | |
500 years | Quincentennial | ||
600 years | Sexcentennial | ||
700 years | Septcentennial | ||
800 years | Octocentennial | ||
900 years | Nonacentennial | ||
1000 years | Millennial | ||
2000 years | Bimillennial |
*A ‘Jubilee’ in the western world is a term derived from the Bible and although historically had a different meaning it is used in this context to define a period of years indicated by the preceding word e.g. Silver Jubilee = 25 years, Golden Jubilee = 50 years and Diamond Jubilee = 60 years
Further Info:
Anniversary Names – Wikipedia