Fifth Meaning
/fɪfθ/Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjThe ordinal form of the number five.
nounThe person or thing in the fifth position.
Sentence Examples
He came in fifth in the race.
A fire broke out on the fifth floor.
Our office is located on the fifth floor of the building.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The runner finished in ____ place, just missing a medal by a few seconds.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
This is the ____ time he has visited Tokyo, yet he still finds something new and exciting to explore.
Word Origin & History
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”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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."
— 2024 September 21, Eve Livingston, “‘Students want to stay here now rather than disappear to London’: how design transformed the city of Dundee”, in The Guardian:
"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"
— 1984, Leonard Cohen, “Hallelujah”, in Various Positions:
"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."
— 1996, Music in Early English Religious Drama: Minstrels playing, page 510:
"Each of these three groups contributes some special insight into the nature of fifthing and the context in which it was practiced."
— 1978, Discant and the Theory of Fifthing:
"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:[…]"
— 1854 January, “Tregonhorke’s First Trip in a Man-of-War”, in Hunt’s Yachting Magazine, volume the third, London: Hunt and Son, […]; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., […], page 14:
Explore More A2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The runner finished in ____ place, just missing a medal by a few seconds.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
This is the ____ time he has visited Tokyo, yet he still finds something new and exciting to explore.