bissextile

[ bahy-seks-til, -tahyl, bih- ]

/ baɪˈsɛks tɪl, -taɪl, bɪ- /

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adjective

containing or noting the extra day of leap year: The years 1980 and 1984 were both bissextile.

noun

leap year.

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Origin of bissextile

1585–95; <Late Latin bi(s)sextilis (annus) leap year, equivalent to bissext(us) bissextus + -ilis-ile

Words nearby bissextile

bisphenoid, bisphenol A, bisphosphonate, bisque, Bissau, bissextile, bissextus, bisso, bissonata, bist, bistable

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use bissextile in a sentence

I refer you to Montucla, if you have any doubt about the Egyptian year being of 365 days without bissextile of any kind.
Personal Recollections, from Early Life to Old Age, of Mary Somerville|Mary Somerville
The fourth year was bissextile, and the dominical letters were F, E; the following year D, and so on.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 4|Various
The bissextile is known to have been used by the Mayas, Tzendals, and Quichés, and it was probably common.
Ancient America, in Notes on American Archaeology|John D. Baldwin
Can we therefore believe that the Egyptians before this period were ignorant of the bissextile intercalation?
The Geography of Strabo, Volume III (of 3)|Strabo

This fourth year was denominated Bissextile, because the sixth day before the Kalends of March was reckoned twice.
Letters on Astronomy|Denison Olmsted

British Dictionary definitions for bissextile

bissextile

/ (bɪˈsɛkstaɪl) /

adjective

(of a month or year) containing the extra day of a leap year

noun

a rare name for leap year

Word Origin for bissextile

C16: from Late Latin bissextilis annus leap year, from Latin bissextus, from bi- 1 + sextus sixth; referring to February 24, the 6th day before the Calends of March

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012