centenarian
/ˌsɛnəˈnɛɹiən/
"centenarian" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“centenarian” is uncommon English (frequency #88,189 among 5,599 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #88,189
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - One who or that which is at least 100 years old.
Corpus desk
Index EN-centenarian · centenarian · English
centenarian · rank #88,189 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #88,189
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH ceramide
Nearest frequency peer: ceramide (+1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
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.
Long-tail ranks near “centenarian”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- cayo
cayo
11,814 corpus weight
- centenarian
centenarian
11,812 corpus weight
- ceramide
ceramide
11,811 corpus weight
- certitude
certitude
11,810 corpus weight
- Chappaqua
Chappaqua
11,809 corpus weight
- Chavan
Chavan
11,808 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “centenarian” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| 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) |
Long-tail rank of “centenarian” in English
Rare enough to double-check
centenarian is uncommon English at frequency #88,189 among 5,599 “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.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how centenarian appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The average age of these 203 centenarians was 102 years 5 months and 25 days.
He proposed the formation of the Louisiana Live Oak Association, whose members would be trees at least a hundred years old. First among the centenarians he listed was the Locke Breaux oak, the largest tree he knew, measuring 10.7 m (35 ft.) in circumference, 22.8 m (75 ft.) tall, with a spread of 50.6 m (166 ft.) in 1932.
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "centenarian", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 11 letters (nearest by frequency rank).