centenarian

English

Etymology

From Latin centēnārius, equivalent to centenary (“100 year, 100th anniversary”) +‎ -an (“person”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌsɛnəˈnɛɹiən/, /ˌsɛntəˈnɛɹiən/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌsɛntəˈnɛːrɪən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

centenarian (plural centenarians)

1. One who or that which is at least 100 years old.
   • 1894 October 19, “Sex and Long Life”, in Public Opinion: A Comprehensive Summary of the Press Throughout the World on All Important Current Topics, volume LXVI, number 1,726, London:

     The average age of these 203 centenarians was 102 years 5 months and 25 days.

   • 2003, Kit Anderson, Nature, Culture, and Big Old Trees: Live Oaks and Ceibas in the Landscapes of Louisiana and Guatemala, University of Texas Press, →ISBN, page 136:

     He proposed the formation of the Louisiana Live Oak Association, whose members would be trees at least a hundred years old. First among the centenarians he listed was the Locke Breaux oak, the largest tree he knew, measuring 10.7 m (35 ft.) in circumference, 22.8 m (75 ft.) tall, with a spread of 50.6 m (166 ft.) in 1932.

Synonyms

• hundred-year-old; supercentenarian (inexact); centenary (obsolete, rare)

Coordinate terms

• teen, teenager (13–19)
• vicenarian (20–29)
• twentysomething (20–29)
• tricenarian (30–39)
• thirtysomething (30–39)
• quadragenarian (40–49)
• fortysomething (40–49)
• quinquagenarian (50–59)
• semicentenarian (50–59)
• fiftysomething (50–59)
• sexagenarian (60–69)
• sixtysomething (60–69)
• septuagenarian (70–79)
• seventysomething (70–79)
• octogenarian (80–89)
• eightysomething (80–89)
• nonagenarian (90–99)
• ninetysomething (90–99)
• semisupercentenarian (105–109)
• supercentenarian (110+)

 

Derived terms

• centenarianism
• semicentenarian (50)
• ultracentenarian (100+)
• semisupercentenarian (105–109)
• supercentenarian (110+)
• supracentenarian (110+)
• sesquicentenarian (150–159)
• bicentenarian (200–299)
• multicentenarian (200+)
• tricentenarian (300–399)
• quadricentenarian (400–499)
• quincentenarian (500–599)

 

Translations

a 100-year-old person

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 人瑞 (zh) (rénruì)

• Czech: stoletý (cs) m, stoletá f
• Dutch: honderdjarige (nl) m or f
• Finnish: satavuotias (fi)
• French: centenaire (fr) m or f
• German: Hundertjährige f, Hundertjähriger m
• Greek: εκατονταετής (el) m or f (ekatontaetís)
• Hungarian: százéves (hu) (one hundred years old)
• Japanese: センテナリアン (ja) (sentenarian), 百寿 (ja) (hyakujū)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hundreåring m

  Nynorsk: hundreåring m

• Polish: stulatek (pl) m, stulatka (pl) f
• Russian: столе́тний челове́к m (stolétnij čelovék), столе́тний (ru) m (stolétnij), долгожи́тель (ru) m (dolgožítelʹ), долгожи́тельница (ru) f (dolgožítelʹnica) (long-liver)
• Serbo-Croatian: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: centenario (es) m
• Tagalog: sasandaanin

Adjective

centenarian (comparative more centenarian, superlative most centenarian)

1. Aged 100 years or more; extremely old.
2. Of or relating to centenarians or a centenary celebration.

Synonyms

• (aged 100 years): hundred-year-old, centenary

Translations

100 years old or more

• Finnish: satavuotias (fi)
• German: hundertjährig (de)
• Hungarian: százas éveiben járó, százvalahány éves, századik születésnapját betöltött
• Polish: stulatek (pl), stulatka (pl)
• Russian: столе́тний (ru) (stolétnij)
• Spanish: centenario (es)

of or relating to centenarians

• Finnish: satavuotinen (fi), satavuotis- (fi)
• Spanish: centenario (es)

References

• “centenarian, n. and adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021.