Meanings
- not comparableConsisting of or containing seven.
- not comparableOf seventh rank or order.
... indeed if further evidence than that of bestial and savage counting were required to show that finger-numeration and the quinary system were not primeval, it would be afforded by the development of the senary-septenary system in so many lands.
1899 October, W J McGee, “The Beginning of Mathematics”, in American Anthropologist, 1(4), page 657 - not comparableLasting seven years; continuing seven years.
Septenary penance.
1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI)
plural septenaries
- A group of seven things.
- A period of seven years.
This idea was based on the doctrine that a man's body changed its character every seven years and that his life was thus made up of ‘septenaries’.
1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 596 - entertainmentThe seven notes of the diatonic scale.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounthe cardinal number that is the sum of six and one
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Classical Latinseptēnārius“consisting of seven each”
- Middle Englishseptenarie, septenary
- Englishseptenary
From Middle English septenarie, septenary, from Classical Latin septēnārius (“consisting of seven each”), from septēnus (“seven each; seven at a time”) + -ārius (whence the English suffix -ary). With use as noun compare septēnārius (“line of seven feet; unit of seven parts; period of seven years”). By surface analysis, septen- + -ary. Doublet of septenar and septenarius.
More words from Middle English, Classical Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian седми
- седми (sedmi)of seventh rank or order
Catalan septenari, septenària
- septenariof seventh rank or order
- septenàriaof seventh rank or order
Russian семеричный
- семеричный (semeričnyj)of seventh rank or order
Cite this entry
septenary. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/septenary
“septenary.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/septenary. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “septenary,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/septenary.
Source: septenary on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.