meridian
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
8 characters
Language
English
word origin
Source
Wiktionary
open dictionary
Access
Free
no sign-up needed
Detailed reference entry for the English word "meridian", 8-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "meridian" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "meridian" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
meridian is aEnglishnoun. It means: In full celestial meridian: a great circle passing through the poles of the celestial sphere and the zenith for a particular point on the Earth's surface. Pronounced /məˈɹɪ.dɪ.ən/. Often confused with median.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | meridian |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /məˈɹɪ.dɪ.ən/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #17,673 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for meridian is 8 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /məˈɹɪ.dɪ.ən/. Corpus data places it at rank #17,673 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 13 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 11 documented wrong-spelling variants for meridian, with forms such as "emridian", "meirdian", and "merdiian". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "median", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: The noun is derived from Late Middle English meridian, meridien (“midday, noon; position of the sun at noon; the south; longitude of a place; (astronomy) celestial meridian”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman meridien (“midday”), Middle French meridien (… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is meridian, spelled M-E-R-I-D-I-A-N, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1In full celestial meridian: a great circle passing through the poles of the celestial sphere and the zenith for a particular point on the Earth's surface.
- 2In full terrestrial meridian: a great circle on the Earth's surface, passing through the geographic poles (the terrestrial North Pole and South Pole); also, half of such a circle extending from pole to pole, all points of which have the same longitude.
- 3The place on the celestial meridian where it is crossed by the sun or a star at its highest point.
- 4The place on the celestial meridian where it is crossed by the sun or a star at its highest point.
- 5The place on the celestial meridian where it is crossed by the sun or a star at its highest point.
- 6A ring or half-ring with markings in which an artificial globe is installed and may spin.
- 7A line passing through the poles of any sphere; a notional line on the surface of a curved or round body (in particular, an eyeball).
- 8The size of type between double great primer and canon, standardized as 44-point.
- 9The south.
- 10Midday, noon.
- 11A midday rest; a siesta.
- 12A particular area or situation considered as having a specific characteristic or identity; also, the characteristics, habits, or tastes of a specific group, locale, etc.
- 13An alcoholic drink taken at midday.
Etymology
The noun is derived from Late Middle English meridian, meridien (“midday, noon; position of the sun at noon; the south; longitude of a place; (astronomy) celestial meridian”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman meridien (“midday”), Middle French meridien (“midday; the south; terrestrial meridian; (astronomy) celestial meridian”) (modern French méridien), and Old French meridiane, meridiiene, and from their etymon Latin merīdiānum (“midday; position of the sun at noon; the south”), a noun use of the neuter form of merīdiānus (“relating to midday; southern”); see further at etymology 1. Sense 1.1 (“celestial meridian”) is ultimately modelled after Latin merīdiāna līnea (“meridian line”). Sense 5.2 (“midday rest; siesta”) is modelled after Late Latin meridiana (“midday; midday rest”), probably short for Latin merīdiāna hōra (“midday time”). The verb is derived from the noun.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: emridian,meirdian,merdiian,meridain,meriddian,meridiann,meridina,meriidan,merridian,mmeridian,mreidian
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for meridian
Misspelling Variants of "meridian"
Frequency rank: #17,673 in English
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "meridian"?
What does "meridian" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "meridian"?
How do you pronounce "meridian"?
What is the origin of the word "meridian"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter M in our English index: