Nine Meaning
/naɪn/Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
numA numerical value equal to 9; the number following eight and preceding ten.
numDescribing a group or set with nine elements.
Sentence Examples
You must come back before nine o'clock.
The bus service is not good between nine and ten.
There are only nine of these rare animals left.
CEFR Practice Quiz
A standard office workday often starts at ____ o'clock in the morning and ends at five.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The cat is often said to have ____ lives because of its amazing ability to survive.
Word Origin & History
PIE word *h₁néwn̥ From Middle English nyn, nyne, from Old English nigon (“nine”), from Proto-West Germanic *neun, from Proto-Germanic *newun (“nine”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁néwn̥ (“nine”). Cognate with Scots neen, nine (“nine”), Saterland Frisian njúgen (“nine”), West Frisian njoggen (“nine”), Dutch negen (“nine”), German Low German negen (“nine”), German neun (“nine”), Danish ni (“nine”), Swedish nio (“nine”), Icelandic níu (“nine”), Gothic 𐌽𐌹𐌿𐌽 (niun, “nine”), Latin novem (“nine”), Ancient Greek ἐννέα (ennéa, “nine”), Sanskrit नव (náva, “nine”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Would they want me to vote my conscience or would they want us to unanimously go the whole nine yards, declare him sane and possibly have the trial end up in a death sentence?"
— 2007, Thomas Mchenry, Along the Rails: A Juror's Journey, page 85:
"Of course, for a number to have a biography, we need to assume that none of its digits are present more than nine times."
— 2008 March 2, Tanya Khovanova, “Autobiographical Numbers”, in arXiv, page 3, archived from the original on 20 Apr 2024:
"Tamunowari Tetenta, a 20-year-old mechanical engineering student, says he has attempted to register for his NIN on nine different occasions in Port Harcourt, a city southeast of Lagos."
— 2021 February 10, Eoin McSweeney, “As Covid-19 cases rise in Nigeria, a government policy is creating crowds and chaos”, in CNN, archived from the original on 23 Mar 2021:
"Indeed, if a number does not have nines, you can remove or add zeroes at the end of a biography to get another biography of the same number."
— 2008 March 2, Tanya Khovanova, “Autobiographical Numbers”, in arXiv, page 3:
"Hiro risks turning on a small flashlight, uses it to rummage around the yatcht, picking up valuable stuff: a few bottles of (presumably) drinkable water, some food, extra ammunition for his nine."
— 1992, Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash, page 359:
Explore More A1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
A standard office workday often starts at ____ o'clock in the morning and ends at five.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The cat is often said to have ____ lives because of its amazing ability to survive.