Centenarian

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˌsɛnəˈnɛɹiən/

Definitions

1. A person who has lived for at least one hundred years is often categorized in this age demographic
2. This term signifies an individual who has celebrated a centennial birthday, reflecting extensive life experience
3. An individual aged one hundred years or more, representing a unique demographic characterized by longevity and resilience

Etymology: "Centenarian" is a plain Latin-based formation: it comes from "centenarius," meaning "consisting of a hundred" or "relating to a hundred," which was built from "centeni," "a hundred at a time," and the same root that gives English "centum." The Latin adjective was then combined with the English suffix "-an," which marks a person associated with something, as in "republican" or "Elizabethan." The result is a word whose literal sense is "one connected with a hundred," which English speakers have applied to people who reach their hundredth year. Its near relative "centenary" shares the same Latin base and describes a hundredth anniversary or a hundred-year period. The two words split in use: "centenary" stayed with time spans and anniversaries, while "centenarian" settled on the people who live through them.

Synonyms: hundred-year-old, century-old