tercentenary

noun

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

The verdict

“tercentenary” is uncommon English (frequency #93,229 among 3,151 “T” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#93,229
frequency rank, English
3,151
“T” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Synonym of tricentennial (“a 300th anniversary”).

Corpus desk

Index EN-tercentenary · tercentenary · English

tercentenary · rank #93,229 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #93,229
  • LEN-MEGA 12 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,151
  • PHOTO-FINISH Tennent

Nearest frequency peer: Tennent (-1 rank slots)

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.

Long-tail ranks near “tercentenary”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “tercentenary” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for tercentenary
PropertyValue
Headwordtercentenary
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters12
Frequency rank#93,229
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “tercentenary” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).tercentenaryfalls in this rarity band:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “Tennent” (#93,228), “temporomandibular” (#93,227), “temporality” (#93,226). Among 3,151 “T” headwords, “tercentenary” is #93,229. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

tercentenary is uncommon English at frequency #93,229 among 3,151 “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”).

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how tercentenary appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Adventures and romance only take on their adventurous and romantic qualities at second-hand. Live them, and they are just a slice of life like the rest. In literature they become as charming as this dismal ball would be if we were celebrating its tercentenary.

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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "tercentenary", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 12 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list