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Glite Dictionary
February 29

February 29

1 3.5
An extra day in February that appears every four years
  • noun
translation icon : 29 de febrero
  • On the night of February 29, two
  • Feb. 29, 2000
  • born on February 29

Examples

  • The Raspberry Pi finally saw a release on February 29 this year and is thought to have sold 200,000 units, with a million expected to ship before the year is over.

    Blog text (27)

  • - February 29, 1856.

    The Pirate Movie (1982)

  • February 29, 2008

    Blog text (12)

  • MMPJ and SPHR call on all these bodies to participate in the Public Forum this Friday, February 29, at 10:00 a.m., being organized by the ad-hoc committee, United for Student Rights, so that everyone can be properly informed to make a decision on this issue.

    Blog text (27)

  • This no longer hypothetical situation would be a perfectly valid example for a line of questioning by a law professor in class (whether it is a proper use of time a la, "what if the guy was born on Feb 29?" is another point) or for a Moot Court case.

    Blog text (12)

  • The extra day in February, February 29, makes leap years special for those born on that date.

  • Some people often receive gifts or hold parties to celebrate their birthdays on February 29 during leap years.

  • Every four years, we gain an additional day in the calendar, February 29, to synchronize with Earth's orbit.

Synonyms

leap day
vsFebruary 29
3 2.3

An extra day added to the calendar every four years, February 29

is the same but focuses on its once every four years recurrence
bissextile day
vsFebruary 29
  • Archaic
9.9

An extra day, February 29th, that people add to the calendar in a leap year

is the same but highlights the regular four year cycle occurrence

Surface Forms

February 29 singular

Morphology

February + 29

The meaning ‘the 29th day of February’ is directly compositional from the constituents 'February' (the month) and '29' (the day number), so a learner who knows both words can immediately identify it as a calendar date. While knowing that February 29 occurs only in leap years is extra cultural/calendar knowledge, the basic referent is literal and cross-linguistically patterned, making it transparent to a B1 learner.

Etymology

February 29 is the 'leap day' added to the calendar every four years. This is because the Earth takes a little more than 365 days to go around the sun, so the extra bits of time add up and make one full extra day. That's why February 29 appears only once every four years and why people born on it only have a real birthday every four years.