tercentenary

noun

"tercentenary" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“tercentenary” is uncommon English (frequency #93,229 among 27,828 “T” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#93,229
frequency rank, English
27,828
“T” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Synonym of tricentennial (“a 300th anniversary”).

Key facts for tercentenary
PropertyValue
Headwordtercentenary
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters12
Frequency rank#93,229
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “tercentenary” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). tercentenary lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

tercentenary is uncommon English at frequency #93,229 among 27,828 “T” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Synonym of tricentennial (“a 300th anniversary”).".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for tercentenary, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. 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 ter- + centenary, after Latin ter centēnī (“three hundred each”). The correct English form is tercentenary, spelled T-E-R-C-E-N-T-E-N-A-R-Y.

Definition

  1. 1
    Synonym of tricentennial (“a 300th anniversary”).

Etymology

From ter- + centenary, after Latin ter centēnī (“three hundred each”).

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "tercentenary"?
"tercentenary" is spelled T-E-R-C-E-N-T-E-N-A-R-Y.
What does "tercentenary" mean?
As a noun, "tercentenary" means: Synonym of tricentennial (“a 300th anniversary”).
What is the origin of the word "tercentenary"?
From ter- + centenary, after Latin ter centēnī (“three hundred each”). 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 “tercentenary”

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

  • The one correct English spelling is T-E-R-C-E-N-T-E-N-A-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

Other uncommon English words near this rank

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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list