five

Reading level: easy

Estimated CEFR level: A1 — Beginner

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun the cardinal number that is the sum of four and one
  2. noun a team that plays basketball
  3. noun a playing card or a domino or a die whose upward face shows five pips

Etymology

PIE word *pénkʷe Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *pénkʷe Proto-Germanic *fimf Proto-West Germanic *fimf Old English fīf Middle English fyf English five From Middle English fyf, fyve, from Old English fīf (“five”), from Proto-West Germanic *fimf (“five”), from Proto-Germanic *fimf (“five”), from Proto-Indo-European *pénkʷe. See also West Frisian fiif, Dutch vijf, German fünf, Norwegian and Swedish fem, Icelandic fimm; also Welsh pump, Latin quinque, Tocharian A päñ, Tocharian B piś, Lithuanian penki, Russian пять (pjatʹ), Albanian pesë, pêsë, Ancient Greek πέντε (pénte), Armenian հինգ (hing), Persian پنج (panj), Sanskrit पञ्च (páñca). Doublet of cinque, fin (“five currency units”), finnuf, pimp (“five”), ponzu, punch (“beverage”), and sengi (“currency”); related to Pompeii. The nasal *m in Proto-Germanic *fimf was lost through a sound change known as the Ingvaeonic nasal spirant law.

In classic literature

Synonyms

5, V, cinque, quint, quintet, fivesome, quintuplet, pentad, fin, Phoebe, Little Phoebe

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