Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

millennial

/məˈlɛn.i.əl/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.33 in modern English

Syllables
mil-len-ni-al
IPA
/məˈlɛn.i.əl/
12
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
4
Syllables
6
Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Thousand-year-old; also (by extension, loosely) thousands of years old.

adj

Occurring every thousand years.

adj

Occurring at, or relating to, the beginning or end of a millennium.

adj

Referring to the thousandth anniversary of an event or happening.

adj

Often capitalized: of or relating to, or characteristic of, people born in the last two decades of the 20th century from around the early 1980s to the mid 1990s (with 1996 births cited as the last Millennial year), and who reached adulthood early in the third millennium C.E.

adj

Synonym of millenarian (“pertaining to the belief in an impending period of one thousand years of peace and righteousness associated with the Second Coming of Christ and his reign on earth”).

noun

Often capitalized: a person from the generation born in the last two decades of the 20th century, from around the early 1980s to the mid-1990s and who reached adulthood early in the third millennium C.E., characterized by their familiarity with computer technology and poorer financial prospects than their parents.

noun

A thousandth anniversary; also, a celebration of such an anniversary.

Obsolete

Example Sentences

Etymology

The adjective is a learned borrowing from Late Latin mīllennium (“millennium”) + English -al (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives; and forming nouns). The English word may be analysed as millennium + -al or milli- (prefix meaning ‘thousand’) + -ennial (suffix meaning ‘years’). Adjective sense 5 (“of or relating to, or characteristic of, people born in the last two decades of the 20th century”) was coined by the American authors William Strauss (1947–2007) and Neil Howe (born 1951) in their book Generations (1991): see the quotations. The noun is derived from the adjective.

Word Breakdown

Regional Pronunciation

  • American English: /məˈlɛn.i.əl/
  • British English: /mɪˈlɛn.ɪ.əl/

Usage

Inflected Forms

millennials (plural)

Derived Forms

amillennial amillennialism amillennialist antemillennial bimillennial decamillennial millennialism millennialist millennially milliberal multimillennial postmillennial

Phrases

millennial cringe millennial gray millennial grey millennial humor millennial pause millennial pink millennial whoop post-millennial

Frequently Paired Words

millenarianism millenarism millenary millennianism millenniary millennium Millennial semiannual · annual · biennial · triennial · quadrennial · quinquennial

Synonyms

millenarian millenniary echo boomer Generation Yer millennian

Rhymes With

perennial centennial biennial bicentennial triennial quadrennial decennial

Questions

How do you pronounce millennial?
The recorded pronunciation is /məˈlɛn.i.əl/.
What does millennial mean?
Thousand-year-old; also (by extension, loosely) thousands of years old.
Where does millennial come from?
The adjective is a learned borrowing from Late Latin mīllennium (“millennium”) + English -al (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives; and forming nouns). The English word may be analysed as millennium + -al or milli- (prefix meaning ‘thousand’) + -ennial (suffix meaning ‘years’). Adjective sense 5 (“of or relating to, or characteristic of, people born in the last two decades of the 20th century”) was coined by the American authors William Strauss (1947–2007) and Neil Howe (born 1951) in their book Generations (1991): see the quotations. The noun is derived from the adjective.

How to pronounce millennial

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “millennial”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/məˈlɛn.i.əl/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “millennial”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “millennial” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.