ciliate
adjective, noun
ciliate is spelled C-I-L-I-A-T-E: 7 letters. It appears about once in every 15 million words in written English, the 118,441st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, ciliate means “Ciliated, having cilia” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in ciliate?
| Letters | 7: C-I-L-I-A-T-E |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 15 million words; the 118,441st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is ciliate?
Ciliate appears about once in every 15 million words in written English, the 118,441st 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).
How do you pronounce ciliate?
- US
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Neøn-ciliate.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of ciliate
- ciliates plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does ciliate mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Ciliated, having cilia.
- 2
Of or pertaining to the eyelash.
noun
- 1
Any of many protozoa, of the phylum Ciliophora, that have many cilia (fine hairs).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Ciliate in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense protozoan of the class Ciliata:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| Spanish | ciliado |
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 ciliate come from?
First attested in 1760; borrowed from New Latin ciliātus, see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and -ate (noun-forming suffix).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).