fifth

English Online Dictionary. What means fifth‎? What does fifth mean?

English

Alternative forms

• fift, fiveth (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English fifthe, fifte, fift, from Old English fīfta (“fifth”), from Proto-Germanic *fimftô (“fifth”) or *femftô, equivalent to five +‎ -th. 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

• (UK, US, standard) enPR: fĭfth, IPA^(key): /fɪfθ/
  • Rhymes: -ɪfθ
• (UK, US, informal) enPR: fĭth, IPA^(key): /fɪθ/
  • Rhymes: -ɪθ
• (UK, US, dialectal) enPR: fĭft, IPA^(key): /fɪft/
  • Rhymes: -ɪft

Adjective

fifth (not comparable)

1. The ordinal form of the number five.

Synonyms

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

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

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)
5. The fifth voice in a polyphonic melody.

Synonyms

• (one of five equal parts): ⅕

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

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.
2. (transitive) To support something fifth, after four others have already done so.
3. (transitive, nonstandard) To divide by five.