Etymologically
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thirty

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈθɜː.ti/, US /ˈθɝː.t̬i/[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English thritti, later thirty by metathesis of r and i,[2][3] inherited from Old English þrītiġ, formed from þrīe (“three”) and -tiġ (“group of ten”).[2][3][4] Old Frisian thritich, Dutch dertig and German dreissig are similar formations.[3][2] See three and -ty.[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The number: Old English þrītig is in Beowulf, about 725,[2] and the OED's first quotation is from about 950.[6]

Semantic evolution

The spelling with thi- is from before 1350 in Barnhart and the late 14th century in Etymonline;[2][3] NODE says it appears in literature in the 15th century and has prevailed since the 16th.[5] Thirty minutes past the hour, as in six-thirty, is from 1870.[6] The Thirty Years' War (1618–48) is named so from 1842.[3] In printing and telegraphy, the symbol -30- marked the end of a story or dispatch from 1895, and later became newspaper slang for “the end”.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 725 – þrītig, in Beowulf.[2]
  • before 1350 – the form thurtty.[2]
  • 1870 – in telling the time.[6]
  • 1895 – -30-, the end of a story.[3]

Modern meaning

Number

  1. The number equal to three times ten; 30.

Noun

  1. (thirties) The numbers from 30 to 39, especially as years of a century or of a person's life.
  2. (tennis) The second point scored in a game.

Word family

  • thirtieth
  • thirtyish
  • thirty-eight
  • thirty-eighth
  • thirty-first
  • thirty-four
  • thirty-fourth
  • thirty-five

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press