[piɛ̯tsi]
CilmeFrom *piek- (whence ordinal piektais, q.v.), with k > c because of the following plural -i, extended to this previously undeclinable stem by analogy; from Proto-Baltic *penk-, from Proto-Indo-European *pénkʷe (“five”), a word about which several theories have been proposed (old word for “thumb;” “hand (= five fingers together);” *pen-kʷe “and pen”, perhaps from kʷetwores pen-kʷe “four and pen (= 1, one?).” Cognates include Lithuanian penki̇̀, Sudovian pank (< *penk-), Old Prussian penckts (“fifth”), Proto-Slavic *pętь (Russian пять (pjatʹ), Belarusian пяць (pjacʹ), Ukrainian п'ять (pʺjatʹ), Bulgarian пет (pet), Czech pět, Slovak päť, Polish pięć), Proto-Germanic *fimf (< *pempe; Gothic 𐍆𐌹𐌼𐍆 (fimf), Old High German funf, finf, German fünf, Old English fīf, English five), Hittite paⁿta, Sanskrit पञ्च (páñca), Ancient Greek πέντε (pénte), Latin quinque (< *penkʷe), Tocharian A pëñ, Tocharian B piš.
- five (the cipher, the cardinal number five)
“pieci un pieci ir desmit” — five plus five is ten
“no pieciem atņemt četrus” — to subtract four from five
- five (A, excellent, the best school grade; syn. piecnieks)
“saņemt matemātikā pieci” — to get an A (lit. five) in mathematics
- five (an amount equal to five)
“pieci litri” — five liters
“piecas glāzes” — five glasses
“izlasīt piecas grāmatas” — to read five books
- five o'clock (a moment in time; five hours after midnight, or after noon)
“pulkstenis ir pieci” — it is five o'clock
“trīs minūtes pirms pieciem” — three minutes to five
“lekcija beidzas piecos pēc pusdienas” — the lecture finished at five o'clock after lunch (= in the afternoon)
Formaspieci(masculine, nominative) · piecas(feminine, nominative) · piecu(genitive, masculine) · piecu(feminine, genitive) · pieciem(dative, masculine) · piecām(dative, feminine) · piecus(accusative, masculine) · piecas(accusative, feminine) · pieciem(instrumental, masculine) · piecām(feminine, instrumental) · piecos(locative, masculine) · piecās(feminine, locative) · -(masculine, vocative) · -(feminine, vocative)