bicentenary (adj.)

word-forming element meaning "two, having two, twice, double, doubly, twofold, once every two," etc., from Latin bi- "twice, double," from Old Latin dvi- (cognate with Sanskrit dvi-, Greek di-, dis-, Old English twi-, German zwei- "twice, double"), from PIE root *dwo- "two."

Nativized from 16c. Occasionally bin- before vowels; this form originated in French, not Latin, and might be partly based on or influenced by Latin bini "twofold" (see binary). In chemical terms, it denotes two parts or equivalents of the substance referred to. Cognate with twi- and di- (1).

1640s, "relation to or consisting of 100 years," from Latin centenarius "of a hundred, relating to a hundred," from centenai "a hundred each," from centum "hundred" (see hundred).

As a noun, c. 1600 as "period of 100 years;" 1788 as "a hundredth anniversary, commemoration or celebration of a hundredth anniversary." The usual British word in this sense for the American centennial.

also bi-centennial, "occurring every two-hundred years," 1843, American English; see bi- + centennial (q.v.). In rivalry with bicentenary (1840) which seems to have been the more common word in Britain. From 1871 as a noun, "the two-hundredth anniversary of an event."