Quinquennalian

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. A descriptor for anything that takes place every five years or relates to a five-year duration, often associated with cycles or phases occurring at this interval
2. Relating to events or periods that happen once every five years
3. Describes something that recurs or lasts in intervals of five years

Etymology: The word packs a five-year count into its first syllables: Latin "quinque" meant "five" and "annus" meant "year," and they were joined in "quinquennis," meaning "lasting five years." English then added the adjective ending "-an," which turns a noun or adjective into "of or belonging to" something, so a quinquennalian event is one that belongs to a five-year cycle. The Latin root also surfaces in "quinquennalia," a noun for the five-yearly festivals and games of the Roman world, and the English adjective seems to have been shaped on that model. Here the link is one of direct descent through Latin rather than a sudden invention, so the word simply carries the five-year idea of its ancestors.