- 80s: the "Eighties"
- 90s: the "Nineties"
- 00s: the ???
For that matter, what is the second decade called? The "tens" just doesn't sound right.
For that matter, what is the second decade called? The "tens" just doesn't sound right.
Those living in early twentieth century called the years 1900-1909 "The Aughts".
This Wikipedia article provides some more context.
I've heard "the noughties" (easy transition from "nineties") and "the two-thousands" (literal interpretation of "2000s") for the decade just gone. I think this is something that doesn't have a real answer as it appears to change with each century and is different depending on your location.
Wikipedia's entry for the 2000s echoes this inability for people to come up with a single name for this decade let alone all "first decades of a century".
In my circle I have usually heard the previous decade referred to as "the two-thousands". As to whether it might be called that in 30 years or so, it's hard to tell. I agree that "the tens" sounds weird, but isn't that because you'd say "the teens" instead?
The "Noughties" became a fairly standard term pretty quickly, at least in the UK. But I've still yet to hear anyone give a good term for the decade from 2010-2019.
If I had to guess what term is most likely to emerge for 2010-2019, I'd say perhaps "The Teens", but I suspect actually no term will catch on until the Twenty-Twenties.
I can only think of "the single digits" to call the first nine years of the new millennium.
I usually hear the decade of 2000 through 2010 referred to as the two thousands. But the year 2000 is really the last year of the 1990s. For consistency the decade 2001-2010 should be referred to as the 20 zeroes and this decade 2011-2020 is the 20 tens. Like every other decade we just say the number with the zero and add an s.
I will offer the correct answer.
Quite simply, for the two decades 2000-2010, and also 2010-2020 (the current decade),
in fact there is no popular slang term.
There were attempts to popularise "naughties" but it never caught on.
Regarding back in 1900-1920. I have not been able to find any clear reference on the issue.
The first ten years of any century could accurately be referred to as the 'singular', or 'unit', years, as opposed to those of double digits that follow. That would be a designation consistent with the linear principles of fundamental mathematics, no?
Fot the current century, I would propose:
two thousand zeroes
My reason being, I think most people would understand what you meant. (because of its recentness) However Im not so sure it would work for the first decade of a century in general. i.e.
in the fifteen zeroes davinci focused his attention on developing military machines for his patrons.
Its a little more ambiguous, but maybe understandable...
FWIW, this period has been called the 'Zeroes' by a Dutch radio station:
The first decennium of this century is described as the 'Zeroes'. It concerns the first ten years of this millennium.
Generally I've never heard anybody refer to the "2000's" as anything other than the decade. Usually if we want to refer to the century 2000's, we'll say "the 21st century".
What would you call the 1st century of a millennium?
What do you call the 1st century of an oncoming age? e.g., the 1st century of Islam.
Or, the first decade of Islam.
If I am to write a story or a comprehensive paper on a subject, I would use the terms
However, dawn is a very unspecific term. To be more precise, I would use
There is no good word or usage, so we must make one up, which is how most every word or usage started at some point in history.
How about the primary decade or in the primes, if you don't want it to get the word confused with an election primary/primaries. Primary, of course, is taken from primary numbers 1 through 10. It also is logical enough to be immediately understood.
I'm going to start using it! Bet everyone "gets" it.
The first decade of the the 21st century, and of any century, is the "O's"
I would call 1900-1909 the nineteen hundreds. This usage seems to have been corrupted though.