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The words "nineteen-hundreds" to me mean strictly 1900–1909. I've noticed several times that people, invariably North American, use these words to mean "the twentieth century", or 1900–1999, or something like that. Similarly for "the eighteen hundreds" used to mean "the nineteenth century" and so on.

Is this an example of a misuse of words by people who have heard and then misunderstood them, or is this actually an established usage in America? Secondly, if it is not a misuse, how would said Americans refer to the period of 1900–1909?

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    I've never heard the term nineteen-hundreds to mean just the first ten years.
    – OneProton
    Aug 23, 2010 at 19:49
  • The first decade was probably called the 1900s while it was unfolding. It become ambiguous after that...
    – Chris Noe
    Aug 24, 2010 at 21:23
  • The 1900s for the entire century is indeed an established usage in America. But we sometimes also use it for the decade 1900–1909. Is there much ambiguity in calling both the decade and the century the 1900s? Isn't it usually clear from context which you are talking about?
    – Peter Shor
    Jun 30, 2011 at 14:30
  • My answer would have been that "in the nineteen hundreds" isn't really a set phrase yet, in American English. It sounds really strange to me. "In the eighteen/seventeen/... hundreds" - yes. But not yet the nineteen hundreds. I think it's just ambiguous.
    – James Moore
    Aug 23, 2011 at 19:58
  • @ChrisNoe much s the last decade was called "the naughties", that term was sometimes used for the first decade of the 1900s, but "the aughts" and "the naughts" were more often used. As with "the naugties" it was generally considered as not 100% serious in tone.
    – Jon Hanna
    Jan 26, 2013 at 17:08

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Although people do use it mean 1900–1909, it isn't a misuse to use it to mean 1900–1999. Another way to refer to the first decade would be "just after the turn of the century", or "at the turn of the century". I would say 1920s to mean 1920–1929 though.

If you do a corpus query (COCA) you'll find that 1900s is almost always preceded by early. (121 times out of 149 hits). This qualification leads me to think that most authors think that the 1900s is a large time frame, that benefits from further qualification. Furthermore, in many cases the context shows that "early 1900s" refers to years outside of 1900–1909.

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  • I would definitely say it is a misuse to use it to mean 1900-1999, like calling an attractive woman with no singing ability a diva or something.
    – delete
    Aug 15, 2010 at 14:18
  • I've expanded my answer to include some results from corpus queries.
    – Chris
    Aug 16, 2010 at 9:47
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    To expand on this a tad, the further we get into the 21st century I suspect it will grow more and more common to refer to the 20th century as the 1900s just as we do with the 1800s, the 1700s and so on.
    – MrHen
    Oct 10, 2013 at 20:14
  • -1 "1900s is almost always preceded by early" in fact, should have alerted you to the author's intended clarification, which would have otherwise been unnecessary. In other words, you logical deduction is not just invalid but is the converse of what it should be. Hope that helps. (I missed this post earlier.)
    – Kris
    Jan 9, 2014 at 12:06
  • @Chris By corpus query (COCA) did you meant corpus.byu.edu/queries.asp, or other generic site? I'm not familiar with the concept a corpus query, I'm an english student abroad.
    – Santropedro
    Oct 14, 2019 at 13:10
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I think of any "hundreds" term as representing the entire century and depending on the specificity demanded in the situation use "early nineteen hundreds" or "late nineteen hundreds" to reference a period. When referring to the first decade of the twentieth century I might say "the nineteen aughts," perhaps a little pretentious , but I like the sound of it.

It's worth noting, though, that I rarely hear "nineteen hundreds" used to refer to anything later than the earliest portion of the century, perhaps because it's so recent and most people can still remember portions of the latter decades. I hear "eighteen hundreds" much more commonly used to refer to that entire century.

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  • It seems more likely to me that some people heard the word nineteen hundreds and started misusing it to mean the twentieth century.
    – delete
    Aug 17, 2010 at 0:48
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    I'm curious, on what basis? It still doesn't seem at all clear to me that its use in reference to the first decade of the twentieth century is any more correct than as a reference to the century as a whole.
    – cori
    Aug 17, 2010 at 5:33
  • I agree with you about the "aughts", but it would seem as though I'm outnumbered on English Wikipedia these days: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Aughts#1900_to_1909 . Apparently, most editors believe "the aughts" refers ONLY to 2000 to 2009.
    – robla
    Apr 16, 2022 at 8:09
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I've never known "nineteen hundreds" to mean anything but the 20th century. I come from a Computer Science background, so I understand why logically it would seem to be "nineteen hundreds" --> 1900-1909, "nineteen hundred and tens" --> 1910-1919, etc., but I haven't heard it used to refer only to 1900-1909.

As to how to refer to that particular period... what about nineteen-ohs? Like "twenties, tens, ohs..."

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    Coming from math, I would say that the nineteen-hundreds are all years that have a 19 on the spot of the hundreds in decimal representation (or better a one on the thousands, and a nine on the hundreds). You defeat your own logic in the last sentence, as taking the pattern would lead to nineteen hundred and ohs.
    – malach
    Oct 14, 2010 at 9:23
  • 1900 was the last year of the 19th century, not the first year of the 20th.
    – tchrist ♦
    Apr 20, 2014 at 21:51
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In the US at least, there's enough variation in the use of this term as to render it imprecise to the point of being useless.

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There appears to be an astonishing lack of references as to which period the 1900s refer to.

1900s (decade)

Wikipedia claims that the term 1900s can either refer to the period between 01/01/1900 and 12/31/1909 or for the years 1900-1999.

While the Mnemonic Dictionary defines 1900s as belonging to the first decade of the 20th century

The 20th century

is also referred to as the 1900s by Wikipedia

Early 1900s

Although this expression is commonly used to cover the first decade, I could find no authoritative source that actually defined the precise length of time or precluded the years 1910 to 1918.

Below is an Ngram chart plotting the frequency of usage of the following terms: “1900s”, “early 1900s” and “early 20th century”. The term 1900s dominates its two rivals from the start. Interestingly, it appears to have enjoyed a sharp rise around 1978 while reaching a peak in 1984. This might have been influenced by George Orwell's dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, or be just coincidence. Despite its sudden drop, the term 1900s picked up and enjoyed a continuous surge until the year 2000.

Ngram Chart

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At least here in America it is clear to me that "the twelve hundreds" means 1200 to 1299. And similarly up to the 1800s. If "the nineteen hundreds" is not clearly used in this way yet, it probably will be in the far future. Similarly, I guess it is becoming more common to hear "the turn of the century" to mean the years around 2000 rather than 1900.

A bit off topic: "the two thousands" means: (a) 2000 to 2009; (b) 2000 to 2099; or (c) 2000 to 2999 ??

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  • I say the answer should be C; If you wanted to name 2000-2099 you'd say "The twenty-hundreds," following the existing pattern. (Realistically, we'll only find out in about a thousand year's time, so any answer given now will be either speculation or evidence of time travel.)
    – user867
    Jan 9, 2014 at 7:12
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In my readings I've never found "nineteen hundreds" to be intended to refer to 1900-1909. Generally, writers will specify the date range as I have just done: "1900-1909".

If you want to know what the shortened name should be, the least ambiguous one I've come across is "aught" (second defn.) so 1905 would become "nineteen aught five". The phrasing is not very common, but it is correct. If the 30s are "thirties", 20s are "twenties", and "10s" are "teens", then the "00s" are "aughts". Both the last groups are fairly uncommon, however, probably because of the awkwardness of saying "nineteen teens" or "twenty aughts".

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The figure supplied in the mind is always the one before all the zeros, so the late 1460s = the last years before 1470, the late 1400s = the last years or decades before 1500, and the late 1000s = the last years or decades (or centuries) before 2000. If you want to designate the first decade of a century (e.g. 1900–1909) in this style (i.e. the style of 'the nineteen forties'), you just say 'the nineteen tens' or 'the 1910s'. NOT 'the 1900s' – and certainly NOT 'the 2000' to mean 'the 2010s'!!!

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There seems to be continuing confusion about the use of the term 1900s, and an increasing tendency even among people who are well-read to use it to refer (approximately) to the 20th century. I would suggest that both terms be dropped to avoid confusion, and the term "the nineteen somethings" should be used officially to describe this period.

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    This is new to me. Do you have any references that point to what you call an error in use of '1900s'? What exactly is wrong with it (and/or 20thc)?
    – Mitch
    Jan 26, 2013 at 16:42
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It was perfectly simple and logical until Americans screwed it up.

The decade begining nineteen twenty is called the nineteen twenties.

The decade begining nineteen ten is called the nineteen tens.

The decade begining nineteen hundred is called the nineteen hundreds.

The CENTURY begining nineteen hundred is called the TWENTIETH CENTURY.

Simple, no confusion

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    What's the problem with this answer? A disagreement with the answer is certainly not a reason to down vote.
    – Kris
    Jan 9, 2014 at 11:57
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It's not 'Two thousands', it's Twenty Hundreds.

In regard to the decades, the Twenty Hundreds first decade is 2001-2010.

Because why? You can't start on a zero.

So the first decade of the Nineteen Hundreds is 1901-1910. And so on.

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  • You’re going to have to provide documentation for that position, please.
    – tchrist ♦
    Oct 10, 2013 at 15:03
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    Counting from 1 is not an unusual proposition (except for Napoleon and Pol Pot, perhaps); but twenty hundreds? In the UK, the years 2000-2010 were "two thousand and..." not "twenty-".
    – Andrew Leach ♦
    Oct 10, 2013 at 15:05
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    This is wrong. "Nineteen hundreds" most certainly includes 1900 itself.
    – MrHen
    Oct 10, 2013 at 20:11