fifth English · revision 3081

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=827|origins=ine-pro *penkʷe}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /fɪfθ/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|fifte]], later fyfthe,^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) [[inh|ang|fīfta]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[gem-pro|*finftan-]],^(Etymonline) from [[m|gem-pro|*fimf|t=five]] and the ordinal suffix [[m|gem-pro|*-þô]],^(Etymonline) from [[ine-pro|*penkʷe|t=five]].^(Etymonline) It is formed like [[five]] with [[-th]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) It is cognate with Old Frisian fifta, Old Saxon fifto, Dutch vijfde, German fünfte and Old Norse fimmti.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) The regular form would have been fift, and the -th came in the 14th century on the pattern of [[fourth]], [[seventh]] and [[ninth]].^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) The old ending -te goes back to an Indo-European ordinal ending also seen in Latin quīntus and Lithuanian peñktas.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ordinal of five: 827, in the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'',^(Barnhart 1988) and about 1000 in the OED.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ A fifth part, one of five equal parts, is from 1480.^(OED 1989) In music, the interval of five notes is from the 1590s.^(Etymonline) ''To smite under the fifth rib'', “to strike to the heart”, is from 1611,^(OED 1989) and ''fifth wheel'', a superfluous person or thing, from the 1630s,^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) though it was also the name of a useful wheel-plate on a carriage (1825).^(Etymonline) ''Fifth-monarchy-man'' was a 17th-century term for a zealot, from Daniel 2:44.^(Etymonline) ''Fifth Avenue'' stood for elegance by 1858.^(Etymonline) The American sense, a fifth of a gallon of liquor, is from 1938.^(Etymonline) ''Fifth column'' translates Spanish quinta columna, the body of supporters General Mola claimed to have inside Madrid while he besieged the city.^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 827 – Old English fīfta.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1200 – ''fifte'', in the ''Ormulum''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * before 1325 – ''fyfthe''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1480 – a fifth part.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1590s – the musical interval.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1630s – ''fifth wheel''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1938 – a fifth of a gallon of liquor.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Coming next after the fourth in order.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # Being one of five equal parts.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # One of five equal parts.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # ''(music)'' An [[interval]] of five [[diatonic]] notes, or the fifth note of a scale.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # ''(US)'' A bottle of [[liquor]] holding a fifth of a gallon.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # ''the Fifth'': the [[Fifth Amendment]] to the US Constitution.^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ===Adverb===

+ # In the fifth place.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[fifthly]]

+ * [[seventy-fifth]]

+ * [[Fifth Amendment]]

+ * [[fifth column]]

+ * [[fifth disease]]

+ * [[fifth estate]]

+ * [[fifth force]]

+ * [[fifth position]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[five]]

+ * [[fifteen]]

+ * [[fifty]]

+ * [[quintet]]

+ * [[pentagon]]

+ * [[punch]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The Cambridge pronouncing dictionary notes that the second /f/ is often dropped, giving /fɪθ/.^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}