sixth
Pronunciation
- IPA: /sɪksθ/[1]
Etymology
It is Middle English sixte, inherited from Old English siexta, syxte, from siex (“six”),[2][3] with the ending later changed to match -th.[2][3] Old Frisian sexta, Old High German sehsto and Gothic saihsta are related.[2][3] See six.[2]
Earliest recorded meaning
The ordinal of six: before 900 in the OED.[4] The Middle English form sixte is from about 1200, and the form in -th from the late 14th century; it replaced sixte by the 16th century.[2]
Semantic evolution
After the names of kings and popes, as in Henry the Sixth, it is from 1387.[4] The noun, a sixth part, is from 1557,[4][2] and in music, an interval of six degrees, from 1597.[4][2] Sixth form, the top classes of a British secondary school, follows the elliptical use from 1573.[4] The sixth sense, a supposed faculty of perception beyond the five senses, is from 1712; earlier, in the 1690s, it was the sense of sexual pleasure, after Scaliger.[2]
Timeline
- before 900 – the ordinal number.[4]
- 1387 – after kings' names.[4]
- 1557 – a sixth part.[4]
- 1597 – in music.[4]
- 1712 – sixth sense.[2]
Modern meaning
Adjective
- Coming next after the fifth in order; 6th.
Noun
- One of six equal parts of something.
- (music) An interval of six notes in a scale.
Word family
- sixthly
- sixth column
- sixth man
- sixth sense
- augmented sixth
Related words
- six
- sixteen
- sixty
References
- ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press