What is the difference between Era and Period? - ProProfs Discuss
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What is the difference between Era and Period?

What is the difference between Era and Period?

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Asked by R. Barnes, Last updated: Nov 10, 2024

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4 Answers

P. Micah

P. Micah

P. Micah
P. Micah

Answered Oct 21, 2019

A period is known to be a long time wherein the characteristics are very obvious. The era is a long time that may become more evident because it is marked by an event. The period also comes from the Greek word “periodos.” This means “cycle of time.”

A period is known to be a long time wherein the characteristics are very obvious. The era is a long
Era does not come from a Greek word. Rather, this comes from the Latin word “aera,” which means “counters used for calculation.” There are a lot of people who use these two terms interchangeably, but most people would use era for longer time frames while period can sometimes be used for shorter time frames. For example, people use the term “period of time,” which means a short time.

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S. Hughes

S. Hughes

S. Hughes
S. Hughes

Answered Sep 17, 2019

An era is a geological time of indeterminate length, generally over a year. It is a unit of time which is smaller than eon and greater than period. Era often marks the beginning and the end of an important event. The word “era” originated from a Latin word called “aera”. Aera means “counter for calculations”. The era spans over a hundred millions of years. Era contains several periods, ages and epochs. Scientists use era and periods to refer to significant events that happened in the past.

An era is a geological time of indeterminate length, generally over a year. It is a unit of time
Period refers to the length of time. It is a subdivision of era. The subdivision of the period is known as epochs. The word “period” originated from the Greek word “periodos” and this means “cycle of time”. A period is a time span that is longer than epoch but shorter than era. Hope you find this information useful.

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J. Pollock

J. Pollock

J. Pollock
J. Pollock, Science Professor, Los Angeles

Answered Sep 04, 2019

An era is usually described as an event that comes with a beginning and an end. There are some people who refer to the era as the time wherein a king or an emperor have reigned supreme. A period is often described as a long period of time wherein there are significant characteristics that have occurred.

An era is usually described as an event that comes with a beginning and an end. There are some
There are some people who may use these terms interchangeably but it should be remembered that a period is shorter as compared to the time frame of the era. There are some people who use the word period to describe some events that are not known to have specific dates probably because of the lack of information that can be found regarding that particular time.

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Bobby Rickets

Bobby Rickets

Bobby Rickets
Bobby Rickets, Content Reviewer

Answered Sep 03, 2019

It can be confusing to know the difference between era and period, but the more that you know about it, the more that you will understand why they are used differently. A period refers to a large interval that has existed in a time that has already ended. The period has usually made significant changes to history and how everything works right now. Without this, everything can be highly confusing for a lot of people.

It can be confusing to know the difference between era and period, but the more that you know about
Era refers to the time interval wherein someone has ruled over a particular area. This is more commonly used in Asia than in other parts of the world. The main difference between era and period is that era does not necessarily refer to a long interval as compared to the period, which means that the time interval is prolonged.

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