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five

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five¹

  • /ˈfaɪ̯v/
  • /ˈfaːv/ General South African, Southern US
  • /ˈfaj(ʋ)/ South Asia

Sounds like fi, phi (dialectal) · Rhymes with -aɪv

Where it comes from

PIE word

*pénkʷe

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *pénkʷe

Proto-Germanic *fimf

Proto-West Germanic *fimf

Old English fīf

Middle English fyf

English five

From Middle English fyf, fyve, from Old English fīf (“five”), from Proto-West Germanic *fimf (“five”), from Proto-Germanic *fimf (“five”), from Proto-Indo-European *pénkʷe.

See also West Frisian fiif, Dutch vijf, German fünf, Norwegian and Swedish fem, Icelandic fimm; also Welsh pump, Latin quinque, Tocharian A päñ, Tocharian B piś, Lithuanian penki, Russian пять (pjatʹ), Albanian pesë, pêsë, Ancient Greek πέντε (pénte), Armenian հինգ (hing), Persian پنج (panj), Sanskrit पञ्च (páñca). Doublet of cinque, fin (“five currency units”), finnuf, pimp (“five”), ponzu, punch (“beverage”), and sengi (“currency”); related to Pompeii.

The nasal *m in Proto-Germanic *fimf was lost through a sound change known as the Ingvaeonic nasal spirant law.

number 5 · V

  1. A numerical value equal to 5; the number following four and preceding six. The r-stems had apparently been reduced to the five nuclear kinship terms that still survive in Modern English.
  2. Describing a group or set with five elements.

noun fives · 5 · V

  1. The digit/figure 5. He wrote a five followed by four zeroes.
  2. A banknote with a denomination of five units of currency. Can anyone here change a five?

    Similar: fiver

  3. Anything measuring five units, as length. All the fives are over there in the corner, next to the fours.
  4. A person who is five years old. The fives and sixes will have a snack first, then the older kids.
  5. Five o'clock. See you at five.
  6. A short rest, especially one of five minutes. Take five, soldier.
  7. A basketball team, club or lineup.

Five²

proper noun

  1. UK, abbreviation Abbreviation of MI5

    Similar: 5, MI5, Security Service

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: fivesome, pentad, cardinal, v, quintet, quintuplet, quint, cinque, fin, phoebe, basketball team, little phoebe, six, seven, fivefold, fifth

Translations

Every language

num cardinal number

Españolcinco
한국어다섯 daseot, 오 o, 파이브 paibeu
日本語五 go, 五つ itsutsu, ファイブ faibu
中文五 wǔ
हिन्दीपाँच pā̃c, पंच pañc, पंज pañj, पंजा pañjā
Kiswahilitano
Portuguêscinco
Françaiscinq
Deutschfünf
Italianocinque
Ελληνικάπέντε pénte, ε΄
Românăcinci
Русскийпять pjatʹ, пя́теро pjátero
Tiếng Việtnăm
العربيةخَمْسَة ḵamsa
עבריתחָמֵשׁ khamésh, חֲמִשָּׁה khamisha

num describing set or group with five components

हिन्दीपंजा pañjā
Русскийпято́к pjatók

noun digit

日本語五 go, ファイブ faibu
中文五 wǔ
हिन्दीपंज pañj, पंच pañc, पंजा pañjā
Portuguêscinco
Françaiscinq
Deutschfünf
Ελληνικάπέντε pénte
Românăcinci
Русскийпятёрка pjatjórka

noun banknote

Portuguêscincão
DeutschFünfer
Românăbancnotă de cinci
Русскийпятёрка pjatjórka

noun anything measuring five units

हिन्दीपंजा pañjā

noun five o'clock

Portuguêscinco
Русскийпять pjatʹ

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Cite this
MLA

"five." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/five. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

five. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/five

Chicago

"five." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/five.

BibTeX
@misc{five_2026,
  title = {five},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/five},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}