vigesimal
1
9.9
- adjective
- /ˌvɪdʒəˈsɪməl/
- Specialized
- These principles are based on properties of the decimal system (and perhaps also to a limited extent the duodecimal and vigesimal systems) of counting, and on successive division by 2 in the case of principle 39.
- vigesimal rime
Examples
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The reason that they used 20 days for a month is largely based upon their vigesimal numeric system, which is a base twenty system as opposed to our base ten decimal system.
Blog text (27) -
In this village, traditional customs are often based on a vigesimal structure, dividing months into periods of twenty days.
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That leaves only those 34 vigesimal rimes that I do not consider to have any significant phonosemantic coherence.
Academic text (2006) -
First, three noncoherent vigesimal rime sets: -? t, -? n, -ek, each of which also occurs 26 times in the database.
Academic text (2006) -
While it is, of course, impossible to prove a universal negative, I am unable to find much semantic coherence in these sets, and thus I have grouped them among the 34 noncoherent vigesimal rimes.
Academic text (2006) -
Thus, somewhat arbitrarily, I have limited consideration in this study to the 96 rimes with 20 or more occurrences in the database, which I will call vigesimal rimes.
Academic text (2006) -
For the data fetishists that constitute my prospective audience, I have included here four appendices, with examples of 62 of the 96 vigesimal rimes, and full particulars for the top 6 that I have discussed here.
Academic text (2006) -
In fact, though I include summaries with examples for all 62 vigesimal rimes in which I have been able to find signs of significant phonosemantic coherence (see appendix A), I will concentrate in this paper on only a few of the most coherent.
Academic text (2006) -
The ancient Maya civilization utilized a vigesimal counting system that influenced their calendrical calculations.
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Mathematics classes show how the vigesimal system differs from our more common decimal system based on ten.
Synonyms
About the number twenty or things in groups of twenty
Surface Forms
Morphology
vigesimal = vigesim + al
The root 'vigesim-' is a Latin combining form (not a standalone English word), so although '-al' is a productive adjective suffix, an average learner cannot derive the meaning from known English base words.
Etymology
Vigesimal comes from the Latin word viginti, which means 'twenty'. So a vigesimal system is one that counts in groups of twenty, which is why some languages and the ancient Maya used it.