bissextile

Meanings

Adjective

• 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.

Noun

• Synonym of leap year: a year with an intercalary day.

Related

Broader meaning words

• intercalary, leap

Origin

• From Latin bisextilis annus, from bisextus + -ilis, from bis- + sextus + dies, 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 (sexto Kalendas Martii) 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.)