Yugs

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Plural form of a term used for long intervals of time in Hindu cosmology ; possible informal playful or dialect word for lengthy periods ; may refer to multiple distinct ages or epochs in religious or mythological context
2. Designates several great eras or cycles in Hindu or Sanskrit tradition ; could serve as a colloquial plural for extended spans of time ; sometimes used to mean various mythic or historic periods
3. Indicates multiples of a cosmological age or epoch used in ancient Indian philosophy ; sometimes employed in conversation to signify many years ; may denote successive historical or legendary eras

Etymology: "Yugs" is the plural of "yug," a Sanskrit-derived term for one of the great ages into which Hindu tradition divides cosmic time. The word itself is the Sanskrit "yuga," which originally carried the sense of a yoke or a pairing, as in the team of animals harnessed together under one yoke, and from that image came the idea of a set or span that runs in a fixed sequence. In Hindu cosmology, the yugas form a repeating cycle of four ages, the Satya, Treta, Dvapara and Kali yugas, with each successive age shorter and more degraded than the one before. Together they make up a mahayuga, and a thousand such cycles are said to make up a single day of Brahma. English borrowed the term for these cosmic eras, and the plural "yugs" has since drifted into looser use for any long stretch of time, though its roots remain in that older picture of a repeating cycle of ages.