of a certain age
"of-a-certain-age" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“of a certain age” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a prep_phrase. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 16
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Middle-aged or older.
Corpus desk
Index EN-of-a-certain-age · of a certain age · English
of a certain age · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 16 letters
- VOW-7 7 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "O" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | of a certain age |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Prep_phrase |
| Letters | 16 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “of a certain age” in English
Rare enough to double-check
of a certain age is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as aprep_phrase. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for of a certain age in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: Perhaps a calque of French d'un certain âge. The correct English form is of a certain age, spelled O-F- -A- -C-E-R-T-A-I-N- -A-G-E.
Definition
- 1Middle-aged or older.
- 2Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see of, a, certain, age: belonging to some particular specified age range.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how of a certain age appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Near-synonyms: (indeterminate) getting on in years, on in years, long in the tooth; (past middle age) older, senior, elderly, geriatric; see also Thesaurus:elderly
a lady of a certain age
Etymology
Perhaps a calque of French d'un certain âge.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.