Sexagesimals

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A numeral system based on the number sixty, often used in measuring time and angles
2. A method of representing numbers where the base is assigned an exponent of sixty
3. Relating to a specific way of counting or calculating that divides into sixty equal parts

Etymology: The plural "sexagesimals" is simply the plural of "sexagesimal," an adjective-turned-noun built from Latin pieces: "sexāgintā" meant "sixty," and "sexāgēsimus" meant "sixtieth," so the core idea is literally "of the sixtieth" or "in sixties." The suffix "-al" (from Latin "-ālis") marks something as relating to or belonging to the thing named, which is why the word describes a system of counting by sixty rather than the number sixty itself. The Latin roots arrived in English through Medieval Latin "sexagesimalis," the form scholars used when they needed a precise term for base-sixty arithmetic. The same stem "sexagint-" also gives us "sexagenary" and "sexagenarian," so a person in their sixties and a sexagesimal fraction share a number at the core of their names, though they are used in very different ways.