hundredth

Etymology

It is formed from English hundred + -th,^[2][3][4][5] the suffix that forms ordinal numbers;^[4] the Middle English form was hundreth.^[6][7] The OED calls it a late formation: Old English had no ordinal formed from either of its words for a hundred, hund and hundred,^[2][5] and Wiktionary gives hundtēontigoþa as the Old English word it displaced.^[1] Middle English sometimes used the cardinal hundred as the ordinal, as some dialects still do.^[2] Hundred continues the latter, from Proto-Germanic *hundaradą,^[1][5] literally the count of a hundred.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

One of a hundred equal parts of a whole: before 1300, in the Cursor Mundi.^[2] Etymonline dates this sense to the early 14th century.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The fractional sense came first; the ordinal sense, last of a hundred in a series, is recorded from 1483, in the Catholicon Anglicum.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as "the ordinal of an hundred; the tenth ten times told", quoting Hooker on "the hundredth part" of a span of time.^[8] The noun, a hundredth part, is recorded from 1774.^[2] The Old Hundredth is a hymn tune that first appeared in the Geneva psalter of 1551 and was set to Psalm 100 in the old metrical version;^[2][3] Etymonline dates the name to the mid-16th century,^[5] while the OED's first record of it is from 1837.^[2]

Timeline

• before 1300 – one of a hundred equal parts.^[2]
• 1483 – coming last in a series of a hundred.^[2]
• 1774 – noun, a hundredth part.^[2]
• 1837 – Old Hundredth, the hymn tune.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Coming at number 100 in a series; the ordinal of hundred: the school's hundredth graduating class.^[9][6][3]
2. Being one of a hundred equal parts of something: a hundredth share of the estate.^[9][6][2]

Noun

1. One of a hundred equal parts of a whole; the fraction one divided by 100.^[9][6][3]
2. The person or thing at number 100 in a series.^[6][3]
3. Old Hundredth: a hymn tune used for Psalm 100.^[3][2]

Related words

• hundred
• -th

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins