eighteen

the word 'eighteen' is a transparent compound from old english, formed by combining the numeral 'eight' with the suffix '-teen', a variant of 'ten'. this '-teen' suffix, originating from the germanic decimal counting system, literally means 'ten more than', so 'eighteen' logically means 'eight plus ten'. this pattern for forming the numbers 13 through 19 is consistent across the germanic languages, reflecting a clear and enduring method for constructing numerals in the teens. the modern word thus directly preserves the ancient arithmetic logic of its old english ancestor, 'eahtatēne'.

Structure: eight + teen - eight: from old english 'eahta', of germanic origin; related to dutch 'acht' and german 'acht', from an indo-european root shared by latin 'octo' and greek 'oktō'. functions as the base numeral. - teen: from old english '-tēne', a suffix forming cardinal numbers from 13 to 19, from an inflected form of 'ten'. functions as a numeral-forming suffix meaning 'ten'.