Etymology

Spring and Autumn

Today it means: Of, from, or related to a period of Chinese history during the first half of the Eastern Zhou dynasty, usually reckoned from its founding at Luoyang in 771 BC until the Partition of Jin in 403 BC, considered to have begun the Warring States period. Full definition →

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The story

Calque from Chinese 春秋 (Chūnqiū), the attributive sense of 春秋時代 /春秋时代 (Chūn–Qiū Shídài, “Spring and Autumn period”), derived from the name of its seminal history, the Confucian classic Spring and Autumn Annals. The title of the work reflected a common Chinese metonym, using "spring and autumn" to refer to the year as a whole.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.