siecle

Siècle is a unit of time equal to 100 years. In French, it designates a historical span rather than a precise moment, and is used to name or discuss periods sharing broad cultural, political, or social features. The term is used with ordinal numerals and is written as le XXe siècle for the 20th century, le XVIIIe siècle for the 18th, and so on.

Étymology and form: The word derives from Latin saeculum, meaning an age or era. In French it acquired the form siècle and is inflected as un siècle, plusieurs siècles (singular and plural). The spelling marks the distinct identity of the French term from the English word century, which follows a different linguistic path.

Usage in history and culture: Centuries function as broad, often approximate frames rather than strict dates. They are used to organize historical analysis and to discuss long-term changes in politics, society, technology, and culture. Phrases such as le siècle des Lumières (the Enlightenment) or le siècle industriel indicate recognizable eras whose features extend across a range of years, typically overlapping adjacent centuries.

Notation and conventions: In written French, centuries are commonly denoted with the numeral in Roman form followed by the suffix -e and the word siècle, for example, XXe siècle, XVIIIe siècle. The exact boundaries of a century can vary by scholarly tradition, but the standard modern convention places the eighteenth century roughly from 1701 to 1800.

See also: Century, saeculum, le siècle.