eon

See also: Appendix:Variations of "eon"

English

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WOTD – 21 January 2006

Alternative forms

• aeon (Commonwealth)
• æon (dated)

Etymology

From Latin aeon, from Ancient Greek αἰών (aiṓn, “age, era”).

Pronunciation

• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈi.ɑn/, /ˈeɪ.ɑn/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈiː.ən/, /ˈiː.ɒn/, /ˈeɪ.ɒn/
  • Homophone: Ian
• (General Australian)

  • Audio (General Australian):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -iːɒn, (UK) -iːən

Noun

English Wikipedia has an article on:

eon

Wikipedia

eon (plural eons)

1. Eternity, the duration of the universe.
2. An immeasurably or indefinitely long period of time.
3. (US, informal, hyperbolic) A long period of time.

   It’s been eons since we last saw each other.

   • 1990, Judith Martin, Miss Manners’ Guide for the Turn-of-the-Millennium (A Fireside Book), New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 453:

     Traditionally, a luncheon is a lunch that takes an eon.

4. (astronomy, geology) A period of one billion (short scale, i.e. 1,000,000,000) years.
   • 2012 January, Robert L. Dorit, “Rereading Darwin”, in American Scientist‎, volume 100, number 1, archived from the original on 14 November 2012, page 23:

     We live our lives in three dimensions for our threescore and ten allotted years. Yet every branch of contemporary science, from statistics to cosmology, alludes to processes that operate on scales outside of human experience: the millisecond and the nanometer, the eon and the light-year.

6. (geology) The longest geochronologic unit, being a period of hundreds of millions of years; subdivided into eras.
7. (Gnosticism, usually spelled aeon or æon) A spirit being emanating from the Godhead.

Hyponyms

• Archean eon
• Hadean eon
• Phanerozoic eon
• Proterozoic eon
• supereon
• temporal æon

Derived terms

• eonian
• eonic
• geon
• light eon

Related terms

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₂ey- (1 c, 1 e)

Translations

eternity

Bulgarian: вечност (bg) (večnost) Czech: věčnost (cs) f Dutch: eeuwigheid (nl) f, (rare) eterniteit f, (rare) sempiterniteit f Finnish: ikuisuus (fi), iäisyys (fi), iänkaikkisuus French: éternité (fr) f Hindi: अनंतकाल (anantkāl) Norwegian: eon (no) m Polish: wieczność (pl) f Portuguese: eternidade (pt) f Russian: ве́чность (ru) f (véčnostʹ) Serbo-Croatian: eon (sh) m, vječnost (sh) f Spanish: eón (es) m, eternidad (es) f Swedish: evighet (sv) c Turkish: sonsuzluk (tr)

period of 1,000,000,000 years

Czech: eon (cs) m Dutch: eon (nl) n French: éon (fr) Irish: aeón m Norwegian: eon (no) m Portuguese: éon (pt) Serbo-Croatian: eon (sh) m Spanish: eón (es) m

geochronologic unit

Catalan: eó (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 宙 (zh) (zhòu) Czech: věk (cs) m Dutch: eon (nl) n Esperanto: eono Finnish: aioni (fi) French: éon (fr) m German: Äon (de) m Hebrew: עִדָּן (he) m (idán) Irish: aeón m Italian: eone (it) m Japanese: 累代 (ja) (るいだい, ruidai) Kazakh: эон (éon) Korean: 누대(累代) (nudae), 이언 (ieon) Norwegian: eon (no) m Polish: eon (pl) m Portuguese: éon (pt) m Russian: эо́н (ru) m (eón) Serbo-Croatian: eon (sh) m Spanish: eón (es) m, evo (es) m Swedish: eon (sv) c

informal, hyperbolic: a long period of time

Bulgarian: вечност (bg) (večnost) Czech: celá věčnost Dutch: eon (nl) n Esperanto: eono Finnish: ikuisuus (fi), maailmankausi (fi) French: bail (fr) m Hebrew: עִדָּן (he) m (idán) Italian: eone (it) m Maori: pōpōroa, pōpōroroa, manomano tau Norwegian: eon (no) m Portuguese: eternidade (pt) f Russian: ты́сяча лет f (týsjača let), целая ве́чность (ru) n (celaja véčnostʹ) Serbo-Croatian: eon (sh) m Spanish: añares m pl, añales (es) m pl Swedish: eon (sv) c, evighet (sv) c

a being emanating from the Godhead

Czech: eon (cs) m Italian: eone (it) m Japanese: アイオーン (aiōn) Norwegian: eon (no) m Polish: eon (pl) m Portuguese: éon (pt) m Russian: эо́н (ru) m (eón)

Anagrams

• -one, NEO, NOE, Neo, Noe, eno-, neo, neo-, one

Dutch

Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:

eon

Wikipedia ^nl

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin aeon, from Ancient Greek αἰών (aiṓn, “age”).

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

eon m or n (plural eonen, diminutive eoontje n or eonnetje n)

1. eon; eternity
2. (geology) eon, aeon
3. (informal, hyperbolically) eon
4. a period of 1,000,000,000 years
5. (Gnosticism) eon

Related terms

• eeuw

Anagrams

• neo-

Norwegian Bokmål

Norwegian Wikipedia has an article on:

eon (geologi)

Wikipedia ^no

Etymology

From Latin aeon, from Ancient Greek αἰών (aiṓn, “age”).

Noun

eon n (definite singular eonet, indefinite plural eon or eoner, definite plural eona or eonene)

1. eon; eternity
2. (geology) eon, aeon
3. (informal, hyperbolically) eon
4. A period of 1,000,000,000 years.
5. (Gnosticism) eon

References

• “eon” in The Ordnett Dictionary

Norwegian Nynorsk

Norwegian Nynorsk Wikipedia has an article on:

eon

Wikipedia ⁿⁿ

Etymology

From Latin aeon, from Ancient Greek αἰών (aiṓn, “age”).

Noun

eon n (definite singular eonet, indefinite plural eon, definite plural eona)

1. eon; eternity
2. (geology) eon, aeon
3. (informal, hyperbolically) eon
4. A period of 1,000,000,000 years.
5. (Gnosticism) eon

Polish

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:

eon

Wikipedia ^pl

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Late Latin aeōn.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛ.ɔn/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛɔn
• Syllabification: e‧on

Noun

eon m inan

1. eon (immeasurably or indefinitely long period of time)

   Synonyms: era, wiek

2. (geology) eon (longest geochronologic unit, being a period of hundreds of millions of years; subdivided into eras)

Declension

Declension of eon

	singular	plural
nominative	eon	eony
genitive	eonu	eonów
dative	eonowi	eonom
accusative	eon	eony
instrumental	eonem	eonami
locative	eonie	eonach
vocative	eonie	eony

Noun

eon m animal

1. (Gnosticism) aeon (spirit being emanating from the Godhead)

Declension

Declension of eon

	singular	plural
nominative	eon	eonowie/eoni
genitive	eona	eonów
dative	eonowi	eonom
accusative	eona	eonowie/eoni
instrumental	eonem	eonami
locative	eonie	eonach
vocative	eonie	eonowie/eoni

Further reading

• eon in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• eon in PWN's encyclopedia

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French éon.

Noun

eon m (plural eoni)

1. eon

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	eon	eonul		eoni	eonii
genitive-dative	eon	eonului		eoni	eonilor
vocative	eonule			eonilor

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ěoːn/
• Hyphenation: e‧on

Noun

èōn m inan (Cyrillic spelling ѐо̄н)

1. eon

Declension

Declension of eon

	singular	plural
nominative	èōn	eoni
genitive	eóna	eona
dative	eonu	eonima
accusative	eon	eone
vocative	eone	eoni
locative	eonu	eonima
instrumental	eonom	eonima

Further reading

• “eon”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2025

Swedish

Swedish Wikipedia has an article on:

eon

Wikipedia ^sv

Noun

eon c

1. eon; eternity
2. (geology) eon

Declension

Declension of eon

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	eon	eons
	definite	eonen	eonens
plural	indefinite	eoner	eoners
	definite	eonerna	eonernas

References

• eon in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• eon in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• eon in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

Anagrams

• Neo