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fifth

Etymology and origin of the English word fifth

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
827
Inherited from
Old English fīfta via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*penkʷe)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /fɪfθ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English fifte, later fyfthe,[2][3] inherited from Old English fīfta,[4][2] from Proto-Germanic *finftan-,[4] from *fimf (“five”) and the ordinal suffix *-þô,[4] from Proto-Indo-European *penkʷe (“five”).[4] It is formed like five with -th.[2][3] It is cognate with Old Frisian fifta, Old Saxon fifto, Dutch vijfde, German fünfte and Old Norse fimmti.[4][2] The regular form would have been fift, and the -th came in the 14th century on the pattern of fourth, seventh and ninth.[4][2] The old ending -te goes back to an Indo-European ordinal ending also seen in Latin quīntus and Lithuanian peñktas.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The ordinal of five: 827, in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,[2] and about 1000 in the OED.[5]

Semantic evolution

A fifth part, one of five equal parts, is from 1480.[5] In music, the interval of five notes is from the 1590s.[4] To smite under the fifth rib, “to strike to the heart”, is from 1611,[5] and fifth wheel, a superfluous person or thing, from the 1630s,[4][5] though it was also the name of a useful wheel-plate on a carriage (1825).[4] Fifth-monarchy-man was a 17th-century term for a zealot, from Daniel 2:44.[4] Fifth Avenue stood for elegance by 1858.[4] The American sense, a fifth of a gallon of liquor, is from 1938.[4] Fifth column translates Spanish quinta columna, the body of supporters General Mola claimed to have inside Madrid while he besieged the city.[6]

Timeline

  • 827 – Old English fīfta.[2]
  • c. 1200 – fifte, in the Ormulum.[2]
  • before 1325 – fyfthe.[2]
  • 1480 – a fifth part.[5]
  • 1590s – the musical interval.[4]
  • 1630s – fifth wheel.[4]
  • 1938 – a fifth of a gallon of liquor.[4]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Coming next after the fourth in order.
  2. Being one of five equal parts.

Noun

  1. One of five equal parts.
  2. (music) An interval of five diatonic notes, or the fifth note of a scale.
  3. (US) A bottle of liquor holding a fifth of a gallon.
  4. the Fifth: the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution.

Adverb

  1. In the fifth place.

Word family

  • fifthly
  • seventy-fifth
  • Fifth Amendment
  • fifth column
  • fifth disease
  • fifth estate
  • fifth force
  • fifth position

Usage notes

The Cambridge pronouncing dictionary notes that the second /f/ is often dropped, giving /fɪθ/.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press

Related etymologies

  • knave · also from Old English
  • husband · also from Old English
  • small · also from Old English
  • head · also from Old English
  • water · also from Old English
  • far · also from Old English
  • yes · also from Old English
  • side · also from Old English
Cite this entry

“Fifth.” Etymologically, 15 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/fifth. Accessed 15 Oct. 2026.

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