The word aeon /ˈiːɒn/, also spelled eon (in American and Australian English[1][2]), originally meant "life", "vital force" or "being", "generation" or "a period of time", though it tended to be translated as "age" in the sense of "ages", "forever", "timeless" or "for eternity".
It is a Latin transliteration from the ancient Greek word ὁ αἰών (ho aion), from the archaic αἰϝών (aiwōn) meaning "century".
αἰϝών) for "age" is present in words such as eternal, longevity and mediaeval.
Occultists of the Thelema and Ordo Templi Orientis (English: "Order of the Temple of the East") traditions sometimes speak of a "magical Aeon" that may last for perhaps as little as 2,000 years.
In the Basilidian Gnosis they are called sonships (υἱότητες huiotetes; singular: υἱότης huiotes); according to Marcus, they are numbers and sounds; in Valentinianism they form male/female pairs called "syzygies" (Greek συζυγίαι, from σύζυγοι syzygoi).