Hebdomadal

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /hɛbˈdɒmədəl/

Definitions

1. Concerning events or tasks that take place on a weekly basis, involving anything scheduled to occur every seven days, or referring to materials published with a weekly frequency
2. Associated with routines, occurrences, or items released in a seven-day period, indicating a regular weekly practice, or highlighting an interval of one week for events
3. Pertaining to something that happens or is done every seven days or once each week

Etymology: John Selden, the English lawyer and antiquary, is credited with coining this word in 1612, in a work tied to the Poly-Olbion project, a poetic survey of England's geography and history by Michael Drayton. Selden was building his learned vocabulary from Latin, and "hebdomadalis" gave him the adjective he needed for things that recur every seven days. That Latin source rests on the Greek "hebdomas," meaning "a set of seven" or "the number seven," which is itself the root of "hebdomad," a word for a group of seven or a span of seven days. The Greek root gives English its sense of weekly rhythm, tied to the seven-day cycle, which the Romans and Greeks both used.

Synonyms: weekly