Advertisement

Origin and history of fifty

fifty(adj., n.)

"1 more than forty-nine, twice twenty-five; the number which is one more than forty-nine; a symbol representing this number;" Old English fiftig "fifty; a set of fifty," from fif "five" (from PIE root *penkwe- "five") + -tig "group of ten" (see -ty (1)). Compare Old Frisian fiftich, Old Norse fimm tigir, Dutch vijftig, Old High German fimfzug, German fünfzig, Gothic fimf tigjus. U.S. colloquial fifty-fifty "in an even division" is from 1908.

Entries linking to fifty

fifties(n.)

1826 as the years of someone's life between 50 and 59; 1853 as the sixth decade of years in a given century. See fifty.

fiftieth(adj., n.)

"next in order after the forty-ninth; an ordinal numeral; being one of fifty equal parts into which a whole is regarded as divided;" Old English fifteogoða "fiftieth;" see fifty + -th (1). Compare Old Norse fimmtugande, and, with a different suffix, Old Frisian fiftichsta, Dutch vijftigste, Old High German fimfzugsto, German fünfzigste.

Advertisement

More to explore

L
twelfth letter, Roman form of Greek lambda, which is from the Semitic lamed. The shape of the Roman letter is an early one in Greek, adopted in Italic before it was superseded in Greek by the inverted form which became the Greek lambda. In some words (ladder, lady, laughter, leap
sixty
"one more than fifty-nine, twice thirty, six times ten; the number which is one more than fifty-nine; a symbol representing...
dreamboat
Chris Smith, all his life, had held in mind a boat of about fifty feet overall which would be the last word in yacht design...
necropsy
[William Hutchinson, footnote in "Proëmium to the Fifty-Third Volume of The London Medical and Physical Journal," 1820]...
doughnut
The ladies of Augusta, Maine, set in operation and carried out a novel idea, namely, the distribution of over fifty bushels...
rayon
[T]he production of rayon in American plants, which in 1920 had been only eight million pounds, had by 1925 reached fifty-three...
dollar
"monetary unit or standard of value in the U.S. and Canada," 1550s, daler, originally in English the name of a large, silver coin of varying value in the German states, from Low German daler, from German taler (1530s, later thaler), abbreviation of Joachimstaler, literally "(guld
bill
[written statement] late 14c., "formal document; formal plea or charge (in a court of law); personal letter," from Anglo-French bille, Anglo-Latin billa "a writing, a list, a seal," from Medieval Latin bulla "decree, seal, sealed document," in classical Latin "bubble, boss, stud,
conspiracy
mid-14c., "a plotting of evil, unlawful design; a combination of persons for an evil purpose," from Anglo-French conspiracie, Old French conspiracie "conspiracy, plot," from Latin conspirationem (nominative conspiratio) "agreement, union, unanimity," noun of action from past-part

Share fifty

Advertisement
Trending
Dictionary entries near fifty
Advertisement