periodos

Periodos is the plural form of periodo in Spanish and Portuguese, where it denotes periods or spans of time. In English, the form periodos is uncommon; the standard equivalent is periods. The term appears in scholarly texts that discuss divisions of time in history, geology, anthropology, or calendar systems, particularly when Latin American or Lusophone sources are involved.

Etymology: The word derives from Latin periodo, which in turn comes from Greek periodos, from peri- “around” and hodos “way, journey.” In contemporary Romance languages, the singular is período (Spanish) or período (Portuguese); the plural is períodos, retaining the accent on the i.

Usage: In history and archaeology, periodos denote named intervals such as ancient, medieval, or modern periods. In geology, periods are a standard subdivision of geologic time between eras and epochs. In music theory and aesthetics, periods describe recurring structural units in melodies or phrases, and in linguistics or textual studies, periodos may appear in discussions of time spans or cyclical phenomena. The word thus functions across disciplines as a label for a defined interval or cycle.

Orthography: In Spanish and Portuguese the diacritic on the i is retained in the plural períodos. In contexts using only ASCII text or bilingual writing, the form periodos may be used, though it omits the accent found in standard spellings. The singular forms perí­odo (Spanish) or período (Portuguese) are commonly used to refer to a single time span.