ninth

adj, noun, verb — 6 senses

ninth

adj

US, UK /naɪnθ/

Etymology From Middle English nynthe, nynte, from Old English niġoþa, from Proto-Germanic *newundô; the -n- was reinserted by analogy with nine. Equivalent to nine + -th (ordinal suffix).

1

The ordinal form of the number nine.

  • Ever since El Martinez started asking to be called by the gender-neutral pronouns “they/them” in the ninth grade, they have fielded skepticism in a variety of forms and from a multitude of sources about what it means to identify as nonbinary.2019 May 29, Amy Harmon, “Which Box Do You Check? Some States Are Offering a Nonbinary Option”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 08 Jun 2019:
  • Kash Patel, born to Gujarati parents in New York in 1980, was sworn in as the ninth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Friday, in the presence of his girlfriend Alexis Wilkins and his family.2025 February 22, “Who is Alexis Wilkins? FBI director Kash Patel takes oath in girlfriend's presence”, in The Hindustan Times, archived from the original on 22 Feb 2025:
Synonyms
9th, IXth, IX
Derived terms
ninthly

ninth

noun

Etymology From Middle English nynthe, nynte, from Old English niġoþa, from Proto-Germanic *newundô; the -n- was reinserted by analogy with nine. Equivalent to nine + -th (ordinal suffix).

1

The person or thing in the ninth position.

2

One of nine equal parts of a whole.

3

Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music The compound interval between any tone and the tone represented on the ninth degree of the staff above it, as between one of the scale and two of the octave above; the octave of the second, consisting of 13 or 14 semitones (called minor and major ninth).

ninth

verb

Etymology From Middle English nynthe, nynte, from Old English niġoþa, from Proto-Germanic *newundô; the -n- was reinserted by analogy with nine. Equivalent to nine + -th (ordinal suffix).

1

To lose a ninth.

  • οὐ[δ̓] ὲνατεὐεται, should be translated “a tithe (offering or fee) is not given (or paid)”, “no tithing” (literally, “a ninth is not given”, “no ninth-ing”, if I may coin such a word).1973, Herakles on Thasos, page 79:
  • A yearling "is ninthed" for Semele on Myconos (LSCG 96.23–24); the victim "is not ninthed" for Heracles Thasios2010, Religion and Reconciliation in Greek Cities: The Sacred Laws of Selinus and Cyrene, page 161:
2

To divide by nine.

  • THE NINTHER-MEAN COMBINATION When data are only a little worse than usual, so far as wild and straggling values are concerned, we can do well enough by taking means of the results of ninthing.2014, Contributions to Survey Sampling and Applied Statistics: Papers in Honor of H.O Hartley:
Derived terms
augmented ninth, bottom of the ninth, curse of the ninth, diminished ninth, eighty-ninth, fifty-ninth, forty-ninth, forty-ninth parallel, major ninth, minor ninth, ninety-ninth, ninth chord, ninth cranial nerve, ninth grade, ninth grader, ninth-inning, one-ninth, one ninth, seventy-ninth, sixty-ninth, thirty-ninth, twenty-ninth

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.