Eocene
/ˈiːəsiːn/adjective
Eocene is spelled E-O-C-E-N-E: 6 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 36,176th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, Eocene means “Of a geologic epoch within the Paleogene period from about 56 to 34 million years ago” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in Eocene?
| Letters | 6: E-O-C-E-N-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 36,176th 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 Eocene?
Eocene appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 36,176th 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 Eocene?
- /ˈiːəsiːn/
Eocene 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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-Eocene.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What does Eocene mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Of a geologic epoch within the Paleogene period from about 56 to 34 million years ago.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Eocene in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense of the Eocene epoch:
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 Eocene come from?
From Ancient Greek ἠώς (ēṓs, “dawn”) + καινός (kainós, “new”) and refers to the "dawn" of modern ('new') fauna that appeared during the epoch. Coined by English polymath William Whewell in 1831 for Charles Lyell, who introduced it in 1833 in his book Principles of Geology. By surface analysis, eo- + -cene.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).