Miocene
/ˈmaɪəsiːn/adjective
Miocene is spelled M-I-O-C-E-N-E: 7 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 33,236th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, Miocene means “Of a geologic epoch within the Neogene period from about 23 to 5.3 million years ago; marked by the drift of continents to their present position” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in Miocene?
| Letters | 7: M-I-O-C-E-N-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 33,236th 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 Miocene?
Miocene appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 33,236th 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 Miocene?
- /ˈmaɪəsiːn/
Miocene 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-Miocene.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of Miocene
- Meiocene
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does Miocene mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Of a geologic epoch within the Neogene period from about 23 to 5.3 million years ago; marked by the drift of continents to their present position.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Miocene in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense of the Miocene 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 Miocene come from?
From Ancient Greek μείων (meíōn, “less”) + καινός (kainós, “new”). 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, meio- + -cene.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).