Tertiär

[tɛʁˈt͡si̯ɛːɐ̯]

/[tɛʁˈt͡si̯ɛːɐ̯]/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“Tertiär” is uncommon German (frequency #69,770 among 2,684 “T” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#69,770
frequency rank, German
2,684
“T” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - ein geologischer Zeitabschnitt der Erdneuzeit

Corpus desk

Index DE-tertiar · Tertiär · German

Tertiär · rank #69,770 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #69,770
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,684
  • PHOTO-FINISH Terrorgruppen

Nearest frequency peer: Terrorgruppen (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Langschwanz-Ränge nahe „Tertiär“

Dünnes Band: Balken invertieren den Rang, seltenere Formen wirken kürzer

corpus weight

What this shows Langschwanz-Sicht: wo „Tertiär“ gegen ähnlich seltene deutsche Ränge sitzt.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for Tertiär
PropertyValue
HeadwordTertiär
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[tɛʁˈt͡si̯ɛːɐ̯]
Letters7
Frequency rank#69,770
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „Tertiär“ im Deutschen

Diese Skala geht vom Kern des Alltagdeutschen (links) bis zum seltenen Langschwanz (rechts).Tertiärfällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „Terrorgruppen“ (#69,769), „thermal“ (#69,772), „Tempelritter“ (#69,767). Unter 2,684 „T“-Lemmata liegt „Tertiär“ bei #69,770. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Tertiär is uncommon German at frequency #69,770 among 2,684 “T” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed [tɛʁˈt͡si̯ɛːɐ̯]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "ein geologischer Zeitabschnitt der Erdneuzeit".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for Tertiär, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct German form is Tertiär, spelled T-E-R-T-I-Ä-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    ein geologischer Zeitabschnitt der Erdneuzeit

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how Tertiär appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Das Tertiär begann vor 65 Millionen Jahren zum Ende der Kreidezeit.
  2. „In den ältesten Tertiär-Schichten liegen die wenigen lebenden Arten mitten zwischen einer Menge erloschener Formen.“

Antonyms

Quartär

This word in other languages

Tertiary(English)tertiaire(Français)terciário(Português)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "Tertiär"?
"Tertiär" is spelled T-E-R-T-I-Ä-R. The IPA pronunciation is [tɛʁˈt͡si̯ɛːɐ̯].
What does "Tertiär" mean?
As a noun, "Tertiär" means: ein geologischer Zeitabschnitt der Erdneuzeit
How do you pronounce "Tertiär"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Tertiär" is [tɛʁˈt͡si̯ɛːɐ̯]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "Tertiär" come from?
"Tertiär" is a German word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Tertiär", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

thermal#69,772Thorben#69,775tedesco#69,763taktlos#69,757

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list