millionth

Etymology

It is formed from English million + -th,^[2][3][4] on the model of hundredth.^[5] Million is from Middle French million, from Italian millione, an augmentative of mille (“thousand”), from Latin mīlle.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Being one of a million equal parts into which something is divided, often in millionth part: 1673, in a letter of the astronomer John Flamsteed.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to the 1670s,^[3] and Dictionary.com to 1665–75.^[4]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word was also used loosely for a tiny fraction.^[2] The sense "number one million in a series" followed in 1764, in Thomas Bayes's paper in the Philosophical Transactions, and it is used loosely as well, for the umpteenth time.^[2] The noun, one of a million equal parts, is recorded from 1766.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as "the ten hundred thousandth", quoting Bentley on the millionth part of an elephant's bulk.^[6] Merriam-Webster also records it for a map or globe drawn at one millionth of natural size.^[7]

Timeline

• 1673 – adjective, being one of a million equal parts.^[2]
• 1764 – adjective, being number one million in a series.^[2]
• 1766 – noun, one of a million equal parts.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Being number one million in a series; also loosely, the latest of countless times: She checked her phone for the millionth time.^[7][2][8]
2. Being one of a million equal parts of something; loosely, very small: a millionth part of a second.^[7][2][8]

Noun

1. One of a million equal parts of something; the fraction one divided by a million.^[7][8][2]
2. The one millionth in a series.^[7][8]

Related words

• million
• hundredth

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
7. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins