Meanings
- not comparableBeing or having an intercalary day, particularly the quadrennial leap day of the Julian and Gregorian calendars traditionally placed as a "second sixth" day before March 1st.
1 more example
The additional day which occurred every fourth year [after the Julian Reform] was given to February, as being the shortest month, and was inserted in the calendar between the 24th and 25th day. February having then twenty-nine days, the 25th was the 6th of the calends of March, sexto calendas; the preceding, which was the additional or intercalary day, was called bis-sexto calendas,—hence the term bissextile, which is still employed to distinguish the year of 366 days. The English denomination of leap-year would have been more appropriate if that year had differed from common years in defect, and contained only 364 days. In the ecclesiastical calendar the intercalary day is still placed between the 24th and 25th of February; in the civil calendar it is the 29th.
1878, W.S.B. Woolhouse & al., "Calendar" in the Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th ed., Vol. IV, p. 666–7
plural bissextiles
- Synonym of leap year: a year with an intercalary day.
Synonyms: leap year
Synonyms & antonyms
nounSynonym of leap year: a year with an intercalary day.
Origin
- Latinbisextilis/bissextilis“bissextile year”
- Englishbissextile
From Latin bisextilis/bissextilis (annus) (“bissextile year”), from bisextus + -ilis, from bis- (“two; twice; doubled”) + sextus (“sixth”) + dies (“day”), from the Julian calendar's original reckoning of its quadrennial intercalary day as a 48-hour February 24, subsequently distinguished as the two separate days of the sixth day before the March calends (ante diem sextum Kalendas Martias) and the "doubled sixth day". (February 24 is now normally understood as five days before the first of March, but was called the sixth by the Romans owing to their inclusive counting of dates. See Roman calendar on Wikipedia.)
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian високосен
- високосен (visokosen)having an extra day
Catalan bissextil, bixest
- bissextilhaving an extra day
- bixesthaving an extra day
Dutch schrikkel-
- schrikkel-having an extra day
Finnish karkaus-
- karkaus-having an extra day
French bissextil
- bissextilhaving an extra day
German compound with Schalt-
- compound with Schalt-having an extra day
Japanese 閏
- 閏 (urū)having an extra day
Latin bisextilis
- bisextilishaving an extra day
Persian کبیسه, اندرهلی
- کبیسه (kabise)having an extra day
- اندرهلی (andarheli)having an extra day
Polish przestępny
- przestępnyhaving an extra day
Portuguese bissexto
- bissextohaving an extra day
Russian високо́сный
- високо́сный (visokósnyj)having an extra day
Spanish bisiesto
- bisiestohaving an extra day
Cite this entry
bissextile. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bissextile
“bissextile.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bissextile. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bissextile,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bissextile.
Source: bissextile on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.