nineteen

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English nintene, also nynetene and nigentene,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English nigontȳne (West Saxon), nigontēne (Anglian),^[5][3][6][7] inherited from Proto-Germanic *newuntehun,^[1] formed from the Germanic bases of nine and ten (see -teen).^[8][9][5] It is cognate with Old Frisian niguntīne, Old Saxon niguntehan, Old High German niunzehan and Old Norse nítján, and with Dutch negentien, German neunzehn, Swedish nitton and Danish nitten.^[8][5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

One more than eighteen: in early Old English, in Bald's Leechbook;^[8] Merriam-Webster dates the first use to before the 12th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has not changed since Old English.^[8] From about 1425 to 1816 the word was also used for nineteenth, chiefly in Scotland in later use.^[8] Nineteen in twenty, the great majority, is recorded from 1730,^[8] and to talk nineteen to the dozen, to talk without stopping or very fast, from 1785.^[8][10] The English Dialect Dictionary records nineteen to the dozen, too fast or too much, in Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and elsewhere, and the Scots phrase in one's nineteen, in one's nineteenth year.^[11] It is also used before another number for the years of the 20th century, as in the nineteen-eighties.^[3]

Timeline

• Old English – one more than eighteen.^[8]
• c. 1425–1816 – nineteenth (now obsolete).^[8]
• 1651 – the nineteenth of a series, as in chapter nineteen.^[8]
• 1730 – nineteen in twenty, the great majority.^[8]
• 1755 – Johnson defines it as "nine and ten; one less than twenty".^[12]
• 1785 – to talk nineteen to the dozen.^[8]

Meanings

Numeral

1. The cardinal number one more than eighteen, written 19 or XIX: The bus was nineteen minutes late.^[8][10][3]
2. A group or set of nineteen people or things, or the age of nineteen.^[8][3]
3. The nineteenth of a series: Turn to chapter nineteen.^[8][3]
4. nineteen to the dozen: very fast or without stopping, of talking.^[10][8]

Word family

• nineteenth

Related words

• nine
• ten
• -teen

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.