Etymologically
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sixteenth

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Pronunciation

  • /ˌsɪksˈtiːnθ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English sixtenthe,[2][3][4] inherited from Old English sixtēoþa, also sextēgða,[4][5][6] from sixtȳne (“sixteen”) and the ordinal suffix -oþa.[3] In Middle English the older forms sixtethe and sixteothe were remade after sixteen and the suffix -th,[2][3][6][4] and the northern form sextend may reflect Old Norse sextándi.[4][7] The OED traces it to the Germanic bases of six and tenth, and it is cognate with Old Frisian sextīnda, Middle Dutch sestiende (modern zestiende), Old High German sehszehanto (modern sechzehnte), Swedish sextonde and Danish sekstende.[7][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

As an ordinal adjective, the sixteenth in a series: in Old English, in the Old English Martyrology.[7] Bosworth–Toller cites Ælfric's Grammar, where se syxteóþa translates Latin sextus decimus.[5] The remade Middle English form sixtenthe appears about 1200.[2]

Semantic evolution

The word has always been the ordinal of sixteen;[7][3] its later history adds noun uses.[7] As a noun meaning one of sixteen equal parts it is recorded from 1611, in Cotgrave's dictionary.[7][2] Music gave it two senses: the sixteenth part of a whole note, a semiquaver or sixteenth note (1861),[7][2] and the interval of two octaves and a second (1876, in Thomas Hardy).[7] Johnson (1755) defined it as "the sixth after the tenth; the ordinal of sixteen".[8] In drug slang since the 1950s a sixteenth is a sixteenth of an ounce of a drug, especially heroin.[9] A shortened form steenth also exists.[6]

Timeline

  • Old English – sixtēoþa, the sixteenth.[7][5]
  • c. 1200 – the Middle English form sixtenthe.[2]
  • 1611 – noun, a sixteenth part.[7][2]
  • 1861 – a sixteenth note, a semiquaver.[7][2]
  • 1876 – the musical interval of two octaves and a second.[7]
  • 1952 – drug slang, a sixteenth of an ounce.[9]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Coming next after the fifteenth in a series; the ordinal number of sixteen, written 16th: the sixteenth floor.[10][3]
  2. Being one of sixteen equal parts: a sixteenth part of the estate.[10][3]

Noun

  1. The sixteenth person or thing in a series, especially the sixteenth day of a month: She was born on the sixteenth.[10][3]
  2. One of sixteen equal parts of a whole; the fraction one divided by sixteen.[10][3][7]
  3. (music) A sixteenth note, a semiquaver.[3][7]
  4. (music) The interval of two octaves and a second.[3][7]
  5. (slang) A sixteenth of an ounce of an illegal drug.[9]

Word family

  • sixteenth note
  • sixteenth rest

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d 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)
  5. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ 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
  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 Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  10. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins