/fɪfθ/, /fɪθ/, /fɪft/
OriginPIE 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”).
- not-comparableThe ordinal form of the number five.
“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.”
- The person or thing in the fifth position.
- ellipsisThe fifth gear of a transmission.
- One of five equal parts of a whole: one-fifth.
- USA quantity of liquor equal to one-fifth of an American gallon, or, more commonly, 750 milliliters (that is, three quarters of a liter).
- The musical interval between one note and another five scale degrees higher (the fifth note in a scale)
“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”
- The fifth voice in a polyphonic melody.
- To sing in the fifth voice in a polyphonic melody.
“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 mu”
“Each of these three groups contributes some special insight into the nature of fifthing and the context in which it was practiced.”
- informal, transitiveTo support something fifth, after four others have already done so.
“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 six”
“It was then moved, seconded, thirded, fourthed, and fifthed, “that Jarman be, and is hereby hung, and ought to be kicked.””
“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.””
- nonstandard, transitiveTo divide by five.
“3/5 has been through fifthing. 2/3 has been through thirding. Therefore, 3/5 now needs thirding and 2/3 needs fifthing”
- US, informalThe Fifth Amendment.
- US, broadly, informalThe right not to give self-incriminating testimony.
- USFifth Avenue.
“[…] besides marrying Nate Archibald and living happily every after in the ivy-covered brick town house just off Fifth that she already had picked out”
- USFifth Street.
Formsfift(alternative, obsolete) · fiveth(alternative, obsolete) · fifths(plural) · fifths(present, singular, third-person) · fifthing(participle, present) · fifthed(participle, past) · fifthed(past)