sexagesimal
Americanadjective
noun
adjective
noun
Etymology
Origin of sexagesimal
From the Medieval Latin word sexāgēsimālis, dating back to 1675–85. See Sexagesima, -al 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
That same astronomical thinking led them to patch the ancient Babylonian method of counting by 60, the sexagesimal system, onto the hour.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 25, 2022
Minutes and seconds derive from the sexagesimal partitions of the degree introduced by Babylonian astronomers.
From Scientific American ● Dec. 31, 2011
For astronomical purposes the Greeks adopted a sexagesimal number system and even divided hours into 60 minutes, and minutes into 60 seconds.
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
Chinese speak a monosyllabic language, 137; their genius and its limitations, 138, 139; oldest national religion of, 180, 181; their "docenal" and "sexagesimal" system of counting, 230-231.
From Chaldea From the Earliest Times to the Rise of Assyria by Zénaïde A. (Zénaïde Alexeïevna) Ragozin
Each degree is divided into 60 minutes, and each minute into 60 seconds, according to the sexagesimal division of the circle.
From The Sailor's Word-Book An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc. by Sir Edward Belcher
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
