# what's the word for ... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 7, 1999, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for/3778 "1999-10-07T21:14:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@cody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cody)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 1999, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for/3778/1 "1999-10-07T21:14:00Z")
We have annual for every year, biennial for every two years. What is the word for every ten years? ---
**Author:** ![Frankie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/258eb7/32.png) [@Frankie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frankie)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 1999, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for/3778/2 "1999-10-07T21:38:00Z")
how’s this for a guess? Decannual?? Deciannual?? Decaannual?? ---
**Author:** ![pluto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f08c70/32.png) [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 1999, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for/3778/3 "1999-10-07T21:52:00Z")
## decennial “If you had manifested _fatigue_ upon noticing that you had been an ass, that would have been logical, that would have been rational; whereas it seems to me that to manifest _surprise_ was to be again an ass.” Mark Twain _Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc_ ---
**Author:** ![pluto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f08c70/32.png) [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 1999, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for/3778/4 "1999-10-07T21:59:00Z")
Similarly, duodecennial for 12 year and sesquicentennial for 150 year celebrations. And sesquipedalian, literally ‘foot-and-a-half-long’ for many syllabled words or speech. ## Finally, Susquehanna is a river flowing from central New York to Chesapeake Bay. “If you had manifested _fatigue_ upon noticing that you had been an ass, that would have been logical, that would have been rational; whereas it seems to me that to manifest _surprise_ was to be again an ass.” Mark Twain _Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc_ ---
**Author:** ![WallyM7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5e925/32.png) [@WallyM7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WallyM7)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 1999, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for/3778/5 "1999-10-07T22:04:00Z")
Susquehanna was also the name of a hat manufacturing company in an old Abbot and Costello routine. I always remember the important stuff. * * * Wally Haiku ---
**Author:** ![pluto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f08c70/32.png) [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 1999, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for/3778/6 "1999-10-07T22:04:00Z")
Positively my last post here – see the current thread about secondary, tertiary, etc. [http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/002900.html](http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/002900.html) With the -ennial ending most of the words are the same: vicennial = 20 years, etc. * * * “If you had manifested _fatigue_ upon noticing that you had been an ass, that would have been logical, that would have been rational; whereas it seems to me that to manifest _surprise_ was to be again an ass.” Mark Twain _Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc_ ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 1999, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-word-for/3778/7 "1999-10-08T00:13:00Z")
The U.S. Government takes a decennial census. You can look up Supreme Court decisions (the old-fashioned way) in West’s Decennial Digests.