fifth
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fifth¹
- /fɪfθ/ UK, US, standard
- /fɪθ/ UK, US, informal
- /fɪft/ UK, US, dialectal
Rhymes with -ɪfθ, -ɪθ, -ɪft
Where it comes from
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”).
adjective fift · fiveth
noun fifths · fift · fiveth
- The person or thing in the fifth position.
- The fifth gear of a transmission.
-
One of five equal parts of a whole: one-fifth.
Similar: ⅕
- A 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.
verb fifths · fifthing · fifthed · fift · fiveth
- 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 musical phrase at the octave and proceeding mainly in fifths above the tune at others times.
- To 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 sixthed, all following suit with the swipes:[…]
- To 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
Fifth²
Where it comes from
(Fifth Amendment): From the name of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, protecting various rights in US legal proceedings.
proper noun
- The Fifth Amendment.
- The right not to give self-incriminating testimony.
- Fifth 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
- Fifth Street.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: one-fifth, ordinal, fifth part, twenty percent, sixth, seventh, five, fifteenth, fiftieth, twenty-fifth, fourth, third, quintile, first, thursday, quinta
Translations
Every language
adj Ordinal form of the number 5 — see also 5th
| Español | quinto |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 다섯째 daseotjjae |
| 日本語 | 五番目 goban-me |
| 中文 | 第五 dìwǔ |
| हिन्दी | पांचवां pāñcvā̃, पाँचवाँ pā̃cvā̃, पाँचवां pā̃cvā̃, पंचम pañcam, पंजवी pañjvī, पंजुम pañjum |
| Kiswahili | ya tano |
| Português | quinto |
| Français | cinquième, cinq |
| Deutsch | fünfte |
| Italiano | quinto, quinta |
| Ελληνικά | πέμπτος pémptos |
| Română | cincilea |
| Русский | пя́тый pjátyj, 5-ый 5-yj |
| Tiếng Việt | thứ năm |
| العربية | خَامِس ḵāmis, خَامِسَة ḵāmisa |
| עברית | חמישי khamishí, חמישית khamishít |
noun person or thing in the fifth position
| Português | quinto, quinta |
|---|---|
| Français | cinquième |
| Deutsch | Fünfte |
| Italiano | quinto, quinta |
| Română | al cincilea, a cincea |
Talk about this word "fifth." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/fifth. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. fifth. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/fifth "fifth." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/fifth.Cite this
@misc{fifth_2026,
title = {fifth},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/fifth},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
