twenty-seventh
Meaning
Constituting number twenty-seven in a sequence; 27th.
The person or thing that is number twenty-seven in a sequence.
One of twenty-seven equal parts of something.
Structure
Usage
He was born on the twenty-seventh of December.
This chapter is the twenty-seventh in the series.
Only a twenty-seventh of the original population remained.
Etymology
The word "twenty-seventh" is a modern English compound ordinal number, formed by a straightforward combination of the cardinal "twenty" and the ordinal "seventh." Its first element, "twenty," traces back to Old English twēntig, meaning "two tens" or a score, reflecting the ancient Germanic decimal system. The second element, "seventh," originates from Old English seofoþa, which itself evolved from the Proto-Germanic root for "seven" combined with the ordinal suffix -th, a descendant of the Proto-Indo-European superlative/ordinal marker -to-. The compound's logic is purely arithmetic, denoting the position following the twenty-sixth item, and showcases the analytic nature of English number formation beyond the basic set.
Analysis
- twenty: From Old English twēntig, meaning "group of twenty," from twēn- (variant of twegen, "two") + -tig (group of ten). Functions as the cardinal number base. - seventh: From Old English seofoþa ("seventh"), from Proto-Germanic sebundô, derived from the cardinal sebun ("seven") + the ordinal suffix -th. Functions as the ordinal suffix attached to the cardinal base.