centenarian
/ˌsɛnəˈnɛɹiən/
"centenarian" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“centenarian” is uncommon English (frequency #88,189 among 43,570 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #88,189
- frequency rank, English
- 43,570
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - One who or that which is at least 100 years old.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | centenarian |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌsɛnəˈnɛɹiən/ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #88,189 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “centenarian” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
centenarian is uncommon English at frequency #88,189 among 43,570 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌsɛnəˈnɛɹiən/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "One who or that which is at least 100 years old.".
No misspelling variants are generated for centenarian in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin centēnārius + -an, equivalent to centenary (“100 year, 100th anniversary”) + -an (“person”). The correct English form is centenarian, spelled C-E-N-T-E-N-A-R-I-A-N.
Definition
- 1One who or that which is at least 100 years old.
Etymology
From Latin centēnārius + -an, equivalent to centenary (“100 year, 100th anniversary”) + -an (“person”).
Synonyms
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 “centenarian”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-E-N-T-E-N-A-R-I-A-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌsɛnəˈnɛɹiən/ (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.