In honor of former President Jimmy Carter’s 100th birthday, here’s a list of words that we use to describe people in various age groups.
The nation’s 39th president, Jimmy Carter, is celebrating a milestone that seems like a milestone: Turning 100 years old. Carter did so and we can now call him a centenarian, a word that means someone who is 100 years old or older. Here are a few other words that can describe various age groups.
You’ve probably heard the word centenarian before. We seem to be fascinated by seeing people live that long. We seem to want people we admire or even those we learn are in their late 90s to “make it to 100.” Both Bob Barker and Betty White, well-known celebrities with large fan bases almost made it that mark. But their deaths at 99 somehow seemed more tragic because they didn’t hit that mark, even if their health at the end wasn’t that great.
But there are other words that you may not have heard because we don’t use them all that often. If you have a background or at least a familiarity with Latin, you’ll probably be able to recognize them quickly.
1. Supercentenarian
If reaching your 100th birthday doesn’t seem like enough of a goal, shoot for the 110th candle on your cake. That makes you a supercentenarian.
2. Centenarian
This is someone who has reached an age of three digits. You might be surprised to know that in 2021, records showed that in a population of 336,996,624 people, there were 89,739 centenarians in the United States.
3. Nonagenarian
A nonagenarian is someone who is between 90 and 99 years old. Some popular living nonagenarians as I write this include Mel Brooks and Dick Van Dyke, both 98; Clint Eastwood, who’s 94; Barbara Eden, who’s 93; and Rita Moreno, who’s 92. May they all reach that next level.
4. Octogenarian
When your 90th birthday is in sight but not quite here yet, you’re an octogenarian, which means you’re in your 80s. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that as of 2022, when you look at life expectancy in the United States, women, at birth, are now expected to become octogenarians. The average life expectancy for a woman at birth is currently 80.2 years.
Leave it to the men to drop the average.
5. Septuagenarian
At birth, a man in the United States, has a life expectancy of 74.8. That would put him squarely in the middle of the septuagenarians among us. Those are people in their 70s. The average life expectancy for both genders overall is 77.5 years.
6. Sexagenarian
You can’t help but chuckle when you think of turning into a sexagenarian. That means you’re between 60 and 69 years old. In the wrong circles, you might be assumed to be making an inappropriate joke. But the sex part refers to the Latin word sexagenarius, which means “containing 60.” Greek used hex for six, which is why the shape is a hexagon, not a “sexagon.” The latter sounds like something you’d find in an adult bookstore.
Depending on your point of view, if you’re fortunate, you might retire as a sexagenarian, which then frees more of your time to climbing the latter of age groups to eventually reach that centenarian phase.
7. Quinquagenarian
I’ve honestly never heard anyone call someone a quinquagenarian. But it does seem a bit nicer than all of those black balloons with the big 50s on them.
I will confess belonging to that group. It means you’re between 50 and 59. In fact, in November, I’ll mark my Quinquinquagennial. Note the two “quins” there. I’ll let you do the math.
8. Quadragenarian
A quadragenarian means you’ve reached your 40s. As the late Harry Belafonte once pointed out at a concert, 40 is where life begins.
9. Tricenarian
That last quote might make you feel a bit better if you’re currently on the tail end of being a tricenarian. You qualify if you’re between 30 and 39 years old. That 39th birthday, for some reason, seems much worse than the 29th.
10. Vicenarian
A vicenarian is a decade closer to the point at which life literally begins. Vicenarians are those between the ages of 20 and 29. I’ve never once heard or seen this word used, so you can thank Brittanica for helping with this and a few of the other terms for those “young-uns” among us.
11. Denarian
This group is made up of people who are between 10 and 19 years old. This is the group that transitions from elementary school to middle school, from middle school to high school, and from high school to college. There’s a lot of change in that decade!