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( Millennia)
A millennium (pl. millennia) is a period of time equal to one thousand years (from Latin mille, thousand, and annum, year). The term may implicitly refer to calendar millennia; periods tied numerically to a particular dating system, specifically ones that begin at the starting (initial reference) point of the calendar in question (typically the year 1) or in later years which are whole number multiples of a thousand years after it. The term can also refer to an interval of time beginning on any date. Frequently in the latter case (and sometimes also in the former) it may have religious or theological implications (see Millenarianism). Especially in religious usage such an interval may be interpreted less precisely, not being, exactly, 1,000 years long. The original method of counting years was ordinal, whether 1st year A.D. or regnal 10th year of King Henry VIII. This ordinal numbering is still present in the names of the millennia and centuries, for example 1st Millennium or the 20th century, and sometimes in the names of decades, e.g. 1st decade of the 21st century. In recent years, most people have moved to expressing individual years as cardinal numbers, for example 1945 or 1998. The usage 1999th year A.D. is no longer found. This follows scientific usage, for example astronomical year numbering. As a result, some other calendar names have also moved to cardinals, e.g. 1980s is an acceptable name for a particular decade. However, 1600s could be understood as either a decade or a century.
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