fourteenth

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English fourtenthe, an alteration, under the influence of fourtene (“fourteen”), of fourtethe,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English fēowertēoþa,^[2][5][6][3] which was formed from fēowertīene (“fourteen”) on the model of tēoþa (“tenth”).^[6][2] The modern form is a new formation from fourteen and -th, which replaced the inherited one in Middle English.^[5][3][7] Middle English also had fourtende, from Old Norse,^[3][7] and the OED thinks such forms probably show Scandinavian influence.^[8] It is cognate with Old Norse fjórtándi, Danish fjortende, Swedish fjortonde, Dutch veertiende and German vierzehnte,^[6][5][7] and with Old Frisian fiūwertēnda and Old High German fiorzehanto, all from the Germanic base of four and that of tenth.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Coming after the thirteenth; in fourteenth part, one of fourteen equal parts: in the Old English translation of Bede's Ecclesiastical History.^[8] The Middle English form fowrtuðe is in Saint Juliana, about 1225,^[3] and Etymonline dates fourtenethe to about 1300.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The ordinal has kept its sense since Old English.^[8][5] The noun was used in music from 1597, in Thomas Morley's Plaine and Easie Introduction to Musicke, for the interval of an octave and a seventh.^[8][2] From 1800 it also meant a fourteenth part of something.^[8] Johnson (1755) defined it as "the ordinal of fourteen; the fourth after the tenth".^[9]

Timeline

• Old English – fēowertēoþa, the fourteenth.^[8][5]
• c. 1225 – Middle English fowrtuðe, in Saint Juliana.^[3]
• c. 1300 – fourtenethe, formed on fourteen.^[7]
• 1597 – noun, in music, an octave and a seventh.^[8]
• 1800 – noun, a fourteenth part.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Coming next after the thirteenth in order, place or time; written 14th: the fourteenth century.^[10][2]
2. Being one of fourteen equal parts of a whole.^[2][10]

Noun

1. The one that is fourteenth in a series: We arrive on the fourteenth.^[2][10]
2. One of fourteen equal parts of something; the fraction one divided by fourteen.^[10][2][8]
3. In music, an interval of an octave and a seventh.^[2][8]

Related words

• fourteen
• four
• tenth
• tithe
• -teen

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e 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 Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins