luminary
lu·min·a·ry/ˈluməˌnɛɹi/noun
luminary is spelled L-U-M-I-N-A-R-Y: 8 letters and 4 syllables (lu·min·a·ry). It appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 60,074th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, luminary means “One who is an inspiration to others; one who has achieved success in one's chosen field; a leading light” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of luminary is luminaries.
How many letters and syllables are in luminary?
| Letters | 8: L-U-M-I-N-A-R-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4: lu·min·a·ry |
| In writing | about once in every 4 million words; the 60,074th 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 luminary?
Luminary appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 60,074th 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 luminary?
- UK /ˈluːmɪn(ə)ɹi/
- US /ˈluməˌnɛɹi/
- Australia /ˈlʉːmɪn(ə)ɹi/
Luminary has 4 syllables, split lu·min·a·ry in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Wodencafe-luminary.wav, En-us-luminary.flac, En-au-luminary.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of luminary
- luminaries plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does luminary mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
One who is an inspiration to others; one who has achieved success in one's chosen field; a leading light.
- 2
A body that gives light; especially, one of the heavenly bodies.
- 3
archaicAn artificial light; an illumination.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Luminary in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
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 luminary come from?
From Late Middle English lūminārī, lūminārīe (“lamp; source of spiritual light, example of holiness; glory”), borrowed from Old French luminarie (“lamp, lights, lighting; candles; brightness, illumination”), variant of luminaire (“light fixture”) (modern French luminaire), from Medieval Latin lūminārium, from lūmināre (“that which gives light; light; lamp; body giving light, especially a heavenly body”), from lūmen (“light; brightness”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewk- (“bright; to shine”)) + -āris (suffix forming adjectives indicating a relationship or a pertaining to).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).