five-hundred
UK[ˌfaɪv ˈhʌn.drəd]US[ˌfaɪv ˈhʌn.drəd]
n
The number 500.
adj
Amounting to five hundred in number.
Morpheme Breakdown
five
hundred
five
5
hundred
100
Etymology
The compound 'five-hundred' is a transparent numerical construction, directly combining the two cardinal number words 'five' and 'hundred'. 'Five' descends from the Proto-Indo-European root 'pénkʷe', which is the source of the number five across many Indo-European languages, including Greek 'pente' and Latin 'quinque'. 'Hundred' originates from the Proto-Indo-European 'ḱm̥tóm', a decimal-based term for a large count, which evolved through Germanic into the Old English 'hund', later becoming 'hundred' with the influence of the 'red' suffix denoting count. The logic of the compound is purely arithmetic, literally meaning "five times one hundred," a straightforward method for forming higher numbers in the English numeral system.
Analysis
Structure: five (5) + hundred (100)
five: From Old English 'fīf', from Proto-Germanic 'fimf', from Proto-Indo-European 'pénkʷe'. Functions as a cardinal number.
hundred: From Old English 'hund', from Proto-Germanic 'hundą', from Proto-Indo-European 'ḱm̥tóm'. Functions as a cardinal number.
Examples
The charity raised over five-hundred dollars at the bake sale.
The stadium can seat approximately five-hundred spectators.
The manuscript is believed to be more than five-hundred years old.