coelacanth
/ˈsiː.lə.kænθ/noun
coelacanth is spelled C-O-E-L-A-C-A-N-T-H: 10 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 18 million words in written English, the 127,184th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, coelacanth means “Any of the class Actinistia of primitive lobe-finned fish in the order Coelacanthiformes–thought to have been extinct for 70 million years until a…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of coelacanth is coelacanths.
How many letters and syllables are in coelacanth?
| Letters | 10: C-O-E-L-A-C-A-N-T-H |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 18 million words; the 127,184th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is coelacanth?
Coelacanth appears about once in every 18 million words in written English, the 127,184th 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 coelacanth?
- /ˈsiː.lə.kænθ/
Coelacanth has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-coelacanth.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of coelacanth
- coelacanths plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does coelacanth mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Any of the class Actinistia of primitive lobe-finned fish in the order Coelacanthiformes–thought to have been extinct for 70 million years until a living specimen was discovered in 1938. Most species are large and plump and they all have bodies covered in tough elasmoid scales that act as armor.
- 2
Either of the two extant species in this group; the West Indian Ocean coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae) or the Indonesian coelacanth (Latimeria menadoensis).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Coelacanth in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense either of two species of deep-water fish:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | cœlacanthe |
| German | Quastenflosser |
| Portuguese | celacanto |
| Spanish | celacanto |
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 coelacanth come from?
From the New Latin genus name Coelacanthus, from Ancient Greek κοῖλος (koîlos, “hollow”) + ἄκανθα (ákantha, “spine”), referring to the hollow caudal fin rays of the first fossil specimen described and named by Louis Agassiz in 1839.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).