Dear Gurus, Here is the sentence: "Confucius was born in 551 BC." For me, it's clear how to say to following: 1) 1900 "nineteen hundred" 2) 2000 "two thousand" 3) 2005 "two thousand and five" or "tw

Creature from Mars

Dear Gurus, Here is the sentence: "Confucius was born in 551 BC." For me, it's clear how to say to following: 1) 1900 "nineteen hundred" 2) 2000 "two thousand" 3) 2005 "two thousand and five" or "two thousand ‘oh’ five" 4) 2017 "two thousand and seventeen" or "twenty seventeen" but what about any year before 1000? So, the question is: 1) How to pronounce "551 BC"? 2) How to pronounce "21 AD"? Thank you!

Feb 21, 2022 2:03 AM

Answers · 11

When the number might not be recognized as a year, we say "The year" first. I would say these as "The year five fifty-one BC" and "The year twenty-one AD." "BC" and "AD" are, as you'd expect, pronounced "bee cee" and "ay dee." There's another detail, though. "AD" stands for "anno Domini," i.e. "year of Our Lord," i.e. Christ. "BC" stands for "before Christ." Both assume a framework of Christianity. Scholars and historians prefer to use the culturally neutral terms "CE" (Common Era) instead of AD, and "BCE" (before Common Era) instead of AD.

February 21, 2022