Anthropocene
/ˈæn.θɹə.pəˌsiːn/
"anthropocene" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Anthropocene” is uncommon English (frequency #72,087 among 35,202 “A” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #72,087
- frequency rank, English
- 35,202
- “A” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A proposed but rejected geological epoch, in which the effect of human activities on the global environment has disrupted the natural variability of the Holocene, ending the Holocene. (It was rejec...
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Anthropocene |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ˈæn.θɹə.pəˌsiːn/ |
| Letters | 12 |
| Frequency rank | #72,087 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Anthropocene” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
Anthropocene is uncommon English at frequency #72,087 among 35,202 “A” headwords, classed as aproper noun, transcribed /ˈæn.θɹə.pəˌsiːn/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for Anthropocene, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From a combination of anthropo- + -cene modeled on Holocene, Pleistocene, and similar. First attested in the 1960s in the translations of Russian-language scientific articles, possibly with a different meaning. Supposedly coined independently in the 1980s b… The correct English form is Anthropocene, spelled A-N-T-H-R-O-P-O-C-E-N-E.
Definition
- 1A proposed but rejected geological epoch, in which the effect of human activities on the global environment has disrupted the natural variability of the Holocene, ending the Holocene. (It was rejected as formal scientific nomenclature in 2024 owing to not meeting a bar for how a geological epoch is formally defined.)
- 2The era of human impact on the environment, irrespective of its nomenclatural status as a geological event or epoch; especially, the era of large impact (i.e., on industrial and postindustrial scale).
Etymology
From a combination of anthropo- + -cene modeled on Holocene, Pleistocene, and similar. First attested in the 1960s in the translations of Russian-language scientific articles, possibly with a different meaning. Supposedly coined independently in the 1980s by American biologist Eugene Stoermer and later popularized by Dutch atmospheric chemist Paul J. Crutzen in 2000.
This word in other languages
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 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “Anthropocene”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-N-T-H-R-O-P-O-C-E-N-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈæn.θɹə.pəˌsiːn/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Other uncommon English words near this rank
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.