fifty

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈfɪf.ti/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English fifti, inherited from Old English fīftiġ (“fifty; a set of fifty”),^[2][3][4] from Old English fīf (“five”) + -tiġ (“group of ten”) (see five and -ty),^[2][3][5] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *pénkʷe (“five”).^[3] Compare Old Frisian and Old Saxon fīftich, Dutch vijftig, Old Norse fimm tigir, Old High German fimfzug (German fünfzig) and Gothic 𐍆𐌹𐌼𐍆 𐍄𐌹𐌲𐌾𐌿𐍃 (fimf tigjus).^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old English fīftiġ, about 725 in Beowulf in Barnhart;^[2] about 1000 in the OED, both as a number and as a set of fifty persons or things.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English it is fifti, probably before 1200.^[2] MWU notes that Old English fīftiġ was first a noun, a group of fifty.^[4] Fifty used indefinitely as a large number, as fifty times, is from 1818,^[6] and fifty for fiftieth from 1539 but obsolete.^[6] A fifty-gun ship was a fifty in 1778.^[6] The fifties, the years from 50 to 59 of a century or of a person's life, is from about 1714.^[6][7] Fifty-fifty, in an even division, is United States colloquial from 1908 in Etymonline,^[3] 1913 in the writings of P. G. Wodehouse in Barnhart.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 725 – Old English fīftiġ, in Beowulf.^[2]
• before 1200 – Middle English fifti.^[2]
• c. 1714 – the fifties.^[6]
• 1778 – a fifty-gun ship.^[6]
• 1818 – an indefinite large number.^[6]
• 1908 – fifty-fifty.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The cardinal number equal to five times ten; 50.
2. (fifties) The numbers, years or ages from 50 to 59.
3. A banknote of fifty dollars, pounds or the like.

Adjective

1. Amounting to fifty in number.

Word family

• fiftieth
• fiftyish
• fifty-fifty

Related words

• five
• fifth
• fifteen
• -ty

References

1. ^ 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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin