quaternário

/kwɐ.tɨɾ.ˈna.ɾju/

//kwɐ.tɨɾ.ˈna.ɾju// adj

The verdict

“quaternário” is uncommon Portuguese (frequency #74,255 among 129 “Q” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#74,255
frequency rank, Portuguese
129
“Q” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - composto de quatro unidades

Corpus desk

Index PT-quaternario · quaternário · Portuguese

quaternário · rank #74,255 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #74,255
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-6 6 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 129
  • PHOTO-FINISH quattro

Nearest frequency peer: quattro (+1 rank slots)

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.

Ranks da cauda longa perto de “quaternário”

Faixa escassa: as barras invertem o rank para o raro ler-se mais curto

corpus weight

What this shows Vista da cauda longa: onde “quaternário” se situa face a ranks portugueses igualmente raros.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for quaternário
PropertyValue
Headwordquaternário
LanguagePortuguese
Part of speechAdjective
IPA/kwɐ.tɨɾ.ˈna.ɾju/
Letters11
Frequency rank#74,255
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Cauda longa: rank de “quaternário” em português

A frequência vai do punhado de palavras do dia a dia (esquerda) à cauda longa quase nunca usada (direita).quaternáriocai nesta cauda de raridade:

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

A escala é logarítmica (cada marca ≈ 10× mais rara). Vizinhos raros da mesma faixa: “quattro” (#74,256), “quibe” (#74,258), “ralador” (#74,264). Entre 129 lemas com “Q”, “quaternário” fica em #74,255. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

quaternário is uncommon Portuguese at frequency #74,255 among 129 “Q” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /kwɐ.tɨɾ.ˈna.ɾju/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for quaternário, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable Portuguese rules. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct Portuguese form is quaternário, spelled Q-U-A-T-E-R-N-Á-R-I-O.

Definition

  1. 1
    composto de quatro unidades
  2. 2
    que tem quatro faces, quatro elementos, etc
  3. 3
    que tem quatro tempos
  4. 4
    diz-se do período geológico, imediatamente posterior ao terciário

This word in other languages

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 Portuguese corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "quaternário"?
"quaternário" is spelled Q-U-A-T-E-R-N-Á-R-I-O. The IPA pronunciation is /kwɐ.tɨɾ.ˈna.ɾju/.
What does "quaternário" mean?
As an adjective, "quaternário" means: composto de quatro unidades
How do you pronounce "quaternário"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "quaternário" is /kwɐ.tɨɾ.ˈna.ɾju/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "quaternário" come from?
"quaternário" is a Portuguese word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 Portuguese words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked Portuguese headwords with 11 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list