Quaternary

See also: quaternary

English

Etymology

From Latin quaternārius (“consisting of four”), from quaternī (“by fours”); in numerical sense via Middle English quaternary. Compare French quaternaire.

Pronunciation

• enPR: kwŏt′ər-nĕr′ē, kwə-tûr′nə-rē
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkwɑt.əɹˌnɛɹ.i/, /kwəˈtɜɹ.nə.ɹi/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): (rare) /ˈkwɒt.əˌnɛɹ.iː/, /kwəˈtɜː.nə.ɹiː/

Proper noun

Quaternary

1. (geology) The geological period of the Cenozoic Era immediately following the Tertiary. It is subdivided into the Pleistocene and the Holocene Epochs.
2. Alternative letter-case form of quaternary.

Translations

geological period

• Catalan: quaternari m
• Czech: čtvrtohory pl, kvartér (cs) m
• Dutch: Kwartair (nl) n
• Finnish: kvartäärikausi
• French: quaternaire (fr) m
• Georgian: მეოთხეული (meotxeuli), მეოთხეული სისტემა (meotxeuli sisṭema), მეოთხეული პერიოდი (meotxeuli ṗeriodi)
• German: Quartär (de) n
• Hungarian: negyedidőszak (hu)
• Italian: quaternario (it) m
• Japanese: 第四紀 (daiyonki)
• Polish: czwartorzęd (pl) m inan
• Portuguese: Quaternário m
• Russian: Четвертичный пери́од m (Četvertičnyj períod)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: Kvartar

• Slovak: Kvartér
• Slovene: Kvartar
• Spanish: Cuaternario (es) m
• Swedish: kvartär (sv) c
• Ukrainian: Антропогенова система f (Antropohenova systema)
• Vietnamese: kỉ Đệ Tứ

See also

• Neogene
• Tertiary

Further reading

• “Quaternary”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
• “Quaternary”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC, page 4901, column 2.
• “Quaternary”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “Quaternary”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “Quaternary”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “Quaternary”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “Quaternary”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “Quaternary”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• “Quaternary”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.