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fifth

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Fifth

English

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English numbers (edit)
50
 ←  4 5 6  → 
    Cardinal: five
    Ordinal: fifth
    Abbreviated ordinal: 5th
    Latinate ordinal: quintary, quinary
    Latinate reverse order ordinal: propreantepenultimate
    Adverbial: five times
    Multiplier: fivefold
    Latinate multiplier: quintuple
    Distributive: quintuply
    Germanic collective: fivesome
    Collective of n parts: quintuplet, pentuplet
    Greek or Latinate collective: pentad
    Greek collective prefix: penta-
    Latinate collective prefix: quinque-
    Fractional: fifth
    Elemental: quintuplet, pentuplet
    Number of musicians: quintet
    Number of years: quinquennium, lustrum

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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PIE word
*pénkʷe

From Middle English fifthe, fifte, fift, from Old English fīfta (“fifth”), from Proto-Germanic *fimftô (“fifth”) or *femftô, equivalent to five +‎ -th (ordinal suffix). Cognate with Scots fift, fyft (“fifth”), North Frisian fyfde (“fifth”), West Frisian fyfde (“fifth”), Dutch vijfde (“fifth”), Low German fifte, föfte, füfte (“fifth”), German fünfte (“fifth”), Danish femte (“fifth”), Swedish femte (“fifth”), Icelandic fimmta (“fifth”).

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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fifth (not comparable)

  1. The ordinal form of the number five.
    • 2024 September 21, Eve Livingston, “‘Students want to stay here now rather than disappear to London’: how design transformed the city of Dundee”, in The Guardian‎[1]:
      On Friday, at a former Michelin factory in the north-east of the city, the finishing touches were being put in place for the fifth Dundee design festival, which opens on Monday.

Synonyms

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  • 5th, Vth; (in names of monarchs and popes) V, V.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Noun

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fifth (plural fifths)

  1. (ellipsis or nominalization) The person or thing in the fifth position.
    1. (ellipsis) The fifth gear of a transmission.
  2. One of five equal parts of a whole: one-fifth.
  3. (US) A quantity of liquor equal to one-fifth of an American gallon, or, more commonly, 750 milliliters (that is, three quarters of a liter).
  4. (music) The musical interval between one note and another five scale degrees higher (the fifth note in a scale)
    • 1984, Leonard Cohen, “Hallelujah”, in Various Positions:
      Now I've heard there was a secret chord / That David played, and it pleased the Lord / But you don't really care for music, do ya? / It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth
  5. The fifth voice in a polyphonic melody.

Synonyms

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  • (one of five equal parts): ⅕

Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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fifth (third-person singular simple present fifths, present participle fifthing, simple past and past participle fifthed)

  1. (music) To sing in the fifth voice in a polyphonic melody.
    • 1996, Music in Early English Religious Drama: Minstrels playing‎[2], page 510:
      Another extension of strict organum is 'fifthing'. Fifthing is a note-against- note method of creating a two-part texture by improvising a second voice over the given tune, starting and ending each musical phrase at the octave and proceeding mainly in fifths above the tune at others times.
    • 1978, Discant and the Theory of Fifthing‎[3]:
      Each of these three groups contributes some special insight into the nature of fifthing and the context in which it was practiced.
  2. (transitive, informal) To support something fifth, after four others have already done so.
    • 1854 January, “Tregonhorke’s First Trip in a Man-of-War”, in Hunt’s Yachting Magazine, volume the third, London: Hunt and Son, […]; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., […], page 14:
      A lisping young “Soundings,” or master’s assistant, sung out “I thecond the mothon,” instantly transferring his beer to our hero’s face. In short the resolution was thirded, fourthed, fifthed, and sixthed, all following suit with the swipes: […]
    • 1892 December 31, Talbot Baines Reed, “Tom, Dick, and Harry. A School Story.”, in The Boy’s Own Paper, volume XV, number 729, page 212, column 2:
      It was then moved, seconded, thirded, fourthed, and fifthed, “that Jarman be, and is hereby hung, and ought to be kicked.”
    • 2017, Critics Pick the TV Shows That Get Mental Health Right — IndieWire Survey‎[4]:
      Though seconding (or fifthing) the praise for “BoJack Horseman” and “In Treatment,” I think I’ll use the majority of my space to discuss “You’re the Worst.”
  3. (transitive, nonstandard) To divide by five.
    • 2006, Mathematics for Dyslexics: Including Dyscalculia‎[5], page 188:
      3/5 has been through fifthing. 2/3 has been through thirding. Therefore, 3/5 now needs thirding and 2/3 needs fifthing
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