quarter-century

noun

"quarter-century" is a 14-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“quarter-century” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
15
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A period of twenty-five years.

Key facts for quarter-century
PropertyValue
Headwordquarter-century
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters15
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “quarter-century” sits in English frequency

quarter-century falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

quarter-century is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A period of twenty-five years.".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for quarter-century, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From quarter + century. The correct English form is quarter-century, spelled Q-U-A-R-T-E-R---C-E-N-T-U-R-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    A period of twenty-five years.

Etymology

From quarter + century.

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "quarter-century"?
"quarter-century" is spelled Q-U-A-R-T-E-R---C-E-N-T-U-R-Y.
What does "quarter-century" mean?
As a noun, "quarter-century" means: A period of twenty-five years.
What is the origin of the word "quarter-century"?
From quarter + century. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “quarter-century”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is Q-U-A-R-T-E-R---C-E-N-T-U-R-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list