thirteenth

Etymology

It is inherited from Old English þrēotēoþa,^[2][3][4][5] which was formed from þrēotȳne (“thirteen”) on the model of tēoþa (“tenth”).^[4][5] The OED notes that its many forms first followed the various types of tenth and later the two types of thirteen: the Old English form gave early southern Middle English þretteþe, while northern Middle English had forms from Old Norse þrettánde.^[2][3] From these arose thrittenthe before 1400, and by metathesis, as in the cardinal, thirtenthe; the modern form settled in the 16th century, as if it were formed directly from English thirteen + -th.^[2][3][6] Merriam-Webster takes threttenthe as an alteration of threttethe under the influence of threttene (“thirteen”),^[5] and Dictionary.com likewise says that the English formation replaced thrittenthe.^[7] Similar ordinals are Old Frisian threttinde, Dutch dertiende, Old High German drittozehanto, German dreizehnte, Swedish trettonde and Danish trettende.^[2][6][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The ordinal numeral of thirteen, the last of thirteen: Old English, first in the Old English Martyrology.^[2] Bosworth–Toller quotes it in Ælfric's Grammar and in Beowulf, where the thirteenth man of a band is þreotteoða secg.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its ordinal meaning since Old English;^[2] what changed was its form, which passed through the northern forms borrowed from Old Norse and the metathesis also seen in thirteen before thirteenth settled in the 16th century.^[2][3] The noun followed: a thirteenth part from 1611, in Cotgrave's dictionary, and in music the interval of thirteen diatonic degrees from 1597, in Morley's Plaine & Easie Introduction to Musicke.^[2] The adjective was used for one of thirteen equal parts from 1790, in Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France.^[2] In writing on English history a thirteenth is a medieval tax of a thirteenth part of the value of movables or of a year's rent, recorded from 1874.^[2][5] Johnson (1755) defined it simply as "the third after the tenth".^[9]

Timeline

• Old English – the ordinal numeral of thirteen, as þrēotēoþa.^[2][8]
• 1526 – as an adverb, thirteenthly.^[2]
• 1597 – in music, the interval of a thirteenth.^[2]
• 1611 – noun, a thirteenth part.^[2]
• 1790 – being one of thirteen equal parts.^[2]
• 1874 – in English history, a tax of a thirteenth part.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Coming next after the twelfth in a series; being number 13 in order: her thirteenth birthday.^[10][5][2]
2. Being one of thirteen equal parts of a whole.^[5][10][2]

Noun

1. The one that is number 13 in a series, especially the 13th day of a month, as in Friday the thirteenth.^[10][5]
2. One of thirteen equal parts of something; the quotient of one divided by 13.^[5][10][2]
3. In music, the interval of thirteen diatonic degrees, or a note at that interval.^[5][2]
4. In English history, a tax of a thirteenth part of the value of movable goods or of a year's rent.^[5][2]

Related words

• thirteen
• tenth
• tithe
• three

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins