Etymologically
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fifty

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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

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