Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The period beginning with the traditional birth year of Jesus, designated as year 1.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun the method of numbering years whereby the current internationally recognized year is 2013 on the Gregorian calendar; secular equivalent of anno Domini and the Christian Era.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the time period beginning with the supposed year of Christ's birth
  • adverb of the period coinciding with the Christian era; preferred by some writers who are not Christians

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Originally Vulgar Era. The English phrase "common Era" appears at least as early as 1708, and by 1715 is used synonymously with "Christian Era" and "Vulgar Era".

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