évezredek

Évezredek is the Hungarian term for centuries, referring to successive periods of one hundred years that historians and chronologists use to organize events and trends. The word can denote a single century when specified, or the collective span of many centuries. In Hungarian usage, centuries are commonly identified as X. század (for example XXI. század for the 21st century) or, in Roman numerals, XXI. század. This convention mirrors the international practice of naming centuries by ordinal numbers, such as the 19th or the 20th century.

Boundaries of évezredek are calendar conventions rather than exact natural demarcations. In modern scholarship the 20th century is often defined as the years 1901–2000, while popular usage sometimes treats it as 1900–1999. The same flexibility applies to other centuries, with regional and disciplinary differences influencing where a century begins and ends. Évezredek are thus a convenient framework for describing long-running patterns in politics, culture, technology, religion, and social life.

As a time unit, évezredek helps historians compare changes across regions and eras, frame historical narratives, and study the pace of transformation over centuries. They sit alongside other larger or smaller chronological concepts, such as millennia, eras, and epochs, and interact with BCE/CE designations in modern dating practices.