quadrennium

/kwɑˈdrɛniəm/

Other forms: quadrenniums

High school and college both last for a quadrennium. That's four years' time, even if, to some, it feels more like a millenium, i.e., a thousand.

Quadrennium is one of the words that specifically names a period of years––an annum is one year, a decade ten, a century a hundred, and a millennium a thousand. Quad- refers to the number four. In college campus architecture, a quad is a lawn surrounded by ivy-covered brick buildings on four sides.

Definitions of quadrennium

1. noun

   a period of four years
   synonyms: quadrennial

   type of:

   period, period of time, time period

   an amount of time