fifteenth

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English fiftenthe,^[2][3][4] an alteration, under the influence of fiftene, of the older fiftethe,^[2][4] inherited from Old English fīftēoþa.^[2][5][6][4] The Old English ordinal was formed from fīftīene (“fifteen”) with the ordinal suffix -oþa,^[2] on the model of tēoþa (“tenth”);^[7] the OED traces it to the Germanic bases of five and tenth.^[8] Etymonline dates the modern form, built on fifteen with the suffix -th, to the late 14th century, and notes that by the 15th century it had displaced the forms descended from Old English.^[9][5] The OED explains Middle English forms ending in -t as northern, where that was the usual ending of ordinals, and some others as probably showing Scandinavian influence.^[8] The word is cognate with Old Frisian fīftēnda, Dutch vijftiende, Old High German fimftozehanto, German fünfzehnte, Old Norse fimmtándi, Swedish femtonde, Danish femtende and Gothic 𐍆𐌹𐌼𐍆𐍄𐌰𐍄𐌰𐌹𐌷𐌿𐌽𐌳𐌰 (fimftataihunda).^[8][2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Next in order after the fourteenth, used with a noun: the OED's first record is in the Old English translation of Bede's Ecclesiastical History,^[8][6] and Dictionary.com dates the word to before 900.^[4] The Middle English Dictionary's first quotation, from the Winchester version of the Benedictine Rule (before 1225), speaks of the fifteenth year of a person's age.^[3]

Semantic evolution

As a noun the word meant a fifteenth part, and especially a tax of one fifteenth on personal property: the OED's first record is in Wyclif (about 1380),^[8] the Middle English Dictionary has the fifteenth penny of a person's goods from the early 14th century,^[3] and Merriam-Webster describes it as part of the grants made to the English king from 1272 to 1624.^[2] Middle English music treatises used it for the note two octaves above another, the double octave;^[3] the OED's musical senses date from 1597 and 1613,^[8] and Collins records both the interval and an organ stop that sounds two octaves above the normal pitch.^[10] The sense "one of fifteen equal parts" is recorded from 1626, in Bacon,^[8] where Johnson quotes it,^[11] and the use without a following noun from 1642, in Milton.^[8]

Timeline

• Old English – fīftēoþa, fifteenth, in the translation of Bede.^[8][6]
• before 1225 – fifteoðe, in the Winchester Benedictine Rule.^[3]
• c. 1380 – noun, a fifteenth part; a tax of one fifteenth on personal property.^[8][3]
• before 1425 – the form fiftenthe, in the Wycliffite Bible.^[3]
• before 1450 – in music, the interval of two octaves.^[3]
• 1597 – a musical sense, in Morley's Plaine and Easie Introduction to Musicke.^[8]
• 1626 – one of fifteen equal parts, in Bacon.^[8]
• 1642 – used without a following noun, in Milton.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Coming next after the fourteenth in a series; 15th: the fifteenth floor.^[10][2]
2. Being one of fifteen equal parts of a whole.^[2][10]

Noun

1. The person or thing that is number fifteen in a series, especially the fifteenth day of a month: They arrive on the fifteenth of May.^[2][10]
2. One of fifteen equal parts of something; the fraction one divided by fifteen.^[2][10]
3. In music, an interval of two octaves, or an organ stop that sounds two octaves above the normal pitch.^[10][3]
4. (historical) A tax of one fifteenth on personal property, granted to the English king.^[2][8][3]

Related words

• fifteen
• five
• fifth
• tenth
• tithe

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
4. ^ a b c d Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.