Bissextile Day (Noun)
Meaning
The name of the day that is added during a leap year.
Classification
Nouns denoting time and temporal relations.
Examples
- The intercalary day, also known as a bissextile day, was added to the Roman calendar in 8 BCE to keep the calendar aligned with the solar year.
- The concept of a bissextile day remains present in the modern Gregorian calendar, used internationally.
- Leap day in English or the bissextile day in other languages shares the same name, which correlates to a bissextus or twice sixth day as the preceding day was often referred to as sixth day before the calends in older Roman dating.
- Although calendars have and will undergo revisions, a key characteristic remains intact: integrating an extra day known as a bissextile day to account for a solar year not amounting to a whole number of days.
- Romans often referred to bissextile day, which is simply an extra day, mainly to address calendar corrections.