Word.ws English Dictionary

Pleistocene

/ˈplaɪstəˌsiːn/

Pleistocene adjective: of a geologic epoch within the Quaternary period from about 2,588,000 to 11,700 years ago (earlier definition 1.7 million to 11,000 years ago); marked by the evolution of man, and the extinction of the large mammals.

Adjective

Pleistocene (not comparable)

  1. Of a geologic epoch within the Quaternary period from about 2,588,000 to 11,700 years ago (earlier definition 1.7 million to 11,000 years ago); marked by the evolution of man, and the extinction of the large mammals.

Proper noun

Pleistocene

  1. The Pleistocene epoch.
    • A prehistoric site of late Pleistocene age, which was especially prepared for our visit, was seen at Ting-ts'un, above the Fen River (Shansi).1977, F. Clark Howell, “Introduction”, in Paleoanthropology in the People's Republic of China, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 3
    • Throughout the Pleistocene, climatic changes exerted another type of selective pressure on human biological evolution, contributing to the rapid emergence of various Homo species over time.2017, Anthony J. McMichael, Alistair Woodward, Cameron Muir, Climate Change and the Health of Nations, →ISBN, page 89

Forms of Pleistocene

alternative formPs

Origin of Pleistocene

From Ancient Greek πλεῖστος (pleîstos, “most”) and καινός (kainós, “new”), meaning “newest”, coined by Charles Lyell in 1839. By surface analysis, containing the suffix -cene.

Words formed from Pleistocene

Questions about Pleistocene

What does Pleistocene mean?
Pleistocene means of a geologic epoch within the Quaternary period from about 2,588,000 to 11,700 years ago (earlier definition 1.7 million to 11,000 years ago); marked by the evolution of man, and the extinction of the large mammals.
What part of speech is Pleistocene?
Pleistocene can be an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce Pleistocene?
Pleistocene is pronounced /ˈplaɪstəˌsiːn/.

Words near Pleistocene in the dictionary

  1. pleiotypic
  2. pleioxeny
  3. pleisiomorph
  4. pleisiomorphic
  5. pleisiomorphs
  6. Pleistocene
  7. Pleistocenic
  8. pleistophyte
  9. pleistophytes
  10. Pleitez
  11. Pleitezes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Pleistocene (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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