twelfth

Pluraltwelfths

1. 1
   adjective

   Occupying position number 12 in a sequence; the ordinal form corresponding to the number twelve.

   He was the twelfth person to sign the petition that morning.

   Louis the Twelfth ruled France in the early sixteenth century.

   Note

   The ordinal goes back to Old English twelfta, built as twelve plus the ordinal suffix -th. Middle English wrote it both twelfthe and twelfte. The modern spelling keeps a trace of the join: the v of twelve becomes f before the suffix, which is why the ordinal looks unlike its number. The same word, used as a noun, names one of twelve equal parts.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   One part out of twelve equal parts into which a whole has been divided.

   Each heir received a twelfth of the family estate.

   Three twelfths of the class chose the elective this term.

3. 3
   nouncountable

   A musical interval between two notes equal to an octave plus a fifth.

   The organ stop adds a twelfth above each note the player holds down.

   Singing a twelfth above the melody, he carried the high harmony line.

   Note

   A compound interval, named the way musicians count steps. Add an octave and a perfect fifth, counting both end notes, and you reach the twelfth note of the scale. It spans nineteen semitones, and in just intonation its frequency ratio is a clean 3:1. Players meet it in organ registration and in harmony lines pitched well above a melody.

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