sexagenarian
/ˌsɛksəd͡ʒɪˈnɛɹiən/
"sexagenarian" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sexagenarian” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 12
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Synonym of sixtysomething: a person between 60 and 69 years old.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | sexagenarian |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌsɛksəd͡ʒɪˈnɛɹiən/ |
| Letters | 12 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “sexagenarian” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
sexagenarian is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌsɛksəd͡ʒɪˈnɛɹiən/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Synonym of sixtysomething: a person between 60 and 69 years old.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for sexagenarian, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin sexāgēnārius (“containing 60”) + -an (forming adjectives and representative nouns), either directly or via French sexagénaire, from Latin sexāgēnus (“60 each”) + -ārius (“-ary”), from sexāgintā (“six tens, 60”). The correct English form is sexagenarian, spelled S-E-X-A-G-E-N-A-R-I-A-N.
Definition
- 1Synonym of sixtysomething: a person between 60 and 69 years old.
Etymology
From Latin sexāgēnārius (“containing 60”) + -an (forming adjectives and representative nouns), either directly or via French sexagénaire, from Latin sexāgēnus (“60 each”) + -ārius (“-ary”), from sexāgintā (“six tens, 60”).
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
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Using “sexagenarian”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-E-X-A-G-E-N-A-R-I-A-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌsɛksəd͡ʒɪˈnɛɹiən/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.