caecilian
/sɪˈsɪliən/noun
caecilian is a noun meaning “Any of a group of burrowing amphibians of the order Gymnophiona that resemble earthworms or snakes” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled C-A-E-C-I-L-I-A-N, and it appears about once in every 93 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of caecilian is caecilians.
What does caecilian mean?
noun
- 1
Any of a group of burrowing amphibians of the order Gymnophiona that resemble earthworms or snakes.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce caecilian?
- UK /sɪˈsɪliən/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Forms of caecilian
- caecilians plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is caecilian?
Caecilian appears about once in every 93 million words in written English, the 309,272nd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Words people confuse with caecilian
Sounds like: Sicilian (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Caecilian in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense amphibian:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | cécilie, apode |
| German | Schleichenlurch, Blindwühle |
| Portuguese | cecília |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does caecilian come from?
From Latin caecilia + -an, feminine form of Caecilius, from Caeculus + -ius, from caecus + -ulus.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).