What is 70th birthday called?

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[ sep-choo-uh-juh-nair-ee-uhn, -too-, -tyoo- ]

/ ˌsɛp tʃu ə dʒəˈnɛər i ən, -tu-, -tyu- /

This shows grade level based on the word's complexity.

of the age of 70 years or between 70 and 80 years old.

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1705–15; <Latin septuāgēnāri(us) (see septuagenary) + -an

septimana, septime, Septimus, septisyllable, septivalent, septuagenarian, septuagenary, Septuagesima, Septuagint, septum, septuple

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

A septuagenarian is someone in their 70s (70 to 79 years old), or someone who is 70 years old.

Septuagenarian can also be used as an adjective to describe someone in their 70s, as in Our audience is mostly made up of septuagenarian women, or things related to such a person, as in I have entered my septuagenarian years. 

It’s one of several similar terms used to refer to a person of a certain age, including quadragenarian (40s), quinquagenarian (50s), sexagenarian (60s), octogenarian (80s), and nonagenarian (90s).

Such words are more commonly used as people get older: quadragenarian and quinquagenarian are rarely used, but septuagenarian and octogenarian are more commonly used.

Another word for septuagenarian is septuagenary.

Example: Today is my last day as a septuagenarian—tomorrow I begin my 80s!

The word septuagenarian comes from the Latin word septuāgēnārius, from septuāgēnī, meaning “seventy each,” from septuāgintā, “seventy.” The suffix -an is used to indicate a person (as seen in common words like pedestrian and historian).

It’s more common to refer to someone as a 70-year-old or describe them as in their 70s or 70-something than to call them a septuagenarian. But septuagenarian is used as a fancy or fun way of referring to someone of that age, including by septuagenarians who apply it to themselves. As much fun as it is to say, it’s perhaps more often used in writing. It’s often used in the context of highlighting a person who’s doing something that may be surprising for their age, as in My septuagenarian yoga instructor is way more flexible than I am.

Septuagenarian is often used to be fancy or funny when referring to 70-somethings.

Is septuagenarian used correctly in the following sentence?

Most of my fondest memories have come from my septuagenarian years.

  • Now, with more than 293,000 followers — at least 35,000 of whom were accumulated in the weeks since I spoke to him for this piece — Stratford finds himself enjoying a newfound platform that few other septuagenarian gardeners can claim.

  • It even won praise from Murakami, despite Kawakami having earlier criticized the septuagenarian’s books for sexism.

    12 Asian Writers to Watch|Kate Bartlett|April 8, 2021|Ozy

  • Sharon Shakked and her septuagenarian parents live in the Bay Area, where vaccine appointments have been beyond scarce.

  • Ivory Coast’s septuagenarian President Alassane Ouattara had previously pledged to step down after two terms.

    Hey Joe: Welcome to the New World Order|Daniel Malloy|January 3, 2021|Ozy

  • Come November, we’ll have two septuagenarian candidates facing off.

    How old should a president be?|Daniel J. Levitin|October 22, 2020|Vox

  • The septuagenarian duo of Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi will be able to keep their chauffer-driven, taxpayer-funded limos.

  • The septuagenarian was present during the search, according to the report.

  • Andrew Romano sends the septuagenarian Stone a birthday wish.

    Is Mick Jagger Too Old to Rock?|Andrew Romano|July 26, 2013|DAILY BEAST

  • When you give an underfunded septuagenarian four out of 10 votes in a moderate state, something is most definitely wrong.

  • The libertarian septuagenarian outpaced Huntsman, Gingrich, and Iowa flash-in-the-pan Rick Santorum.

  • A stalwart six-foot septuagenarian does not thus comport himself toward a small gentleman of thirty or forty.

    Concerning Children|Charlotte Perkins Gilman

  • He had before him the operatic universe; and it was to arouse this that he sat him down to write when almost a septuagenarian.

    Verdi: Man and Musician|Frederick James Crowest

  • It was the Bacchic priest, a good-humoured septuagenarian, who had pinched the bare elbow of a comely Bacchante.

    The Death of the Gods|Dmitri Mrejkowski

  • He tells, too, of a Fondue party he threw for a couple of his septuagenarian cousins in Paris "about the year 1801."

    The Complete Book of Cheese|Robert Carlton Brown

  • It was the septuagenarian bishop Purpuris, 273 recalled from exile by Julian.

    The Death of the Gods|Dmitri Mrejkowski

/ (ˌsɛptjʊədʒɪˈnɛərɪən) /

a person who is from 70 to 79 years old

being between 70 and 79 years old

of or relating to a septuagenarian

C18: from Latin septuāgēnārius, from septuāgēnī seventy each, from septuāgintā seventy

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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