# fifth

Pronunciation: say "FIFTH" /fɪfθ/

## Adjective

1. The ordinal form of the number five, coming next after the fourth in a sequence.
   - Simple: Number five in order, coming right after the fourth.
   - _Our tickets are for the fifth row, just behind the orchestra pit._
   - _The committee rejected the proposal for the fifth time this year._

## Noun

2. The person or thing occupying position number five in a sequence.
   - Simple: The one who comes in place number five in a line or list.
   - _Three runners had finished, a fourth was close behind, and the fifth was just rounding the turn._
   - _He was the fifth in his family to graduate from the same college._
3. One of five equal parts of a whole, or twenty percent.
   - Simple: One of five equal parts that something is split into.
   - _Roughly a fifth of the workforce commutes by train._
   - _She left a fifth of her estate to each of her five grandchildren._
4. Short for the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution, or for the right it gives a person to refuse to answer questions that could incriminate them. *(colloquial, US)*
   - Simple: Short for the part of the US Constitution that lets you refuse to answer questions that could show you broke the law.
   - _Called before the Senate committee, the former executive invoked the Fifth and declined to testify._
   - _Asked how much she spent on shoes last year, my sister just laughed and said she was pleading the Fifth._
5. A quantity of liquor equal to one-fifth of a US gallon, or, more commonly, 750 milliliters. *(US)*
   - Simple: A common size of bottle for strong drinks in the United States, holding 750 milliliters.
   - _He grabbed a fifth of tequila on the way to the cookout._
   - _The liquor store ran a weekend sale on fifths of vodka._
6. The musical interval spanning five degrees of the scale, counting both notes, as from C up to G.
   - Simple: In music, the distance from one note to the fifth note of the scale, counting the first, like C to G.
   - _The melody rises a fifth at the start of the chorus._
   - _Power chords on guitar use two notes a fifth apart, such as A and E._
7. In a vehicle's transmission, the fifth forward gear, typically engaged for cruising at higher speeds.
   - Simple: The car gear that comes after fourth, used for fast, steady driving.
   - _She shifted into fifth as the highway opened up ahead._
   - _Don't force it into fifth until you're past fifty miles an hour._

## Verb

8. To express support for something as the fifth person to do so, after four others have already voiced theirs. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: To say you support an idea right after four other people have supported it.
   - _Four of my roommates had already backed the taco plan, so I jokingly fifthed it before anyone could object._
   - _When the fourth person in the group chat wrote "I fourth that," I couldn't resist replying, "And I fifth it."_

## Other meanings

- (noun) In polyphonic music, the fifth voice part of a composition.
- (verb) To divide a number or quantity by five.
- (verb) In medieval music, to improvise a second voice over a given tune, singing mostly a fifth above it.

## Origin

From Middle English "fifthe," from Old English "fīfta," from Proto-Germanic "*fimftô," which is essentially "five" plus the ordinal suffix "-th." It is related to Dutch "vijfde," German "fünfte," and Swedish "femte," and goes back to the Proto-Indo-European root "*pénkʷe."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/fifth (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).