ENGLISH
REFERENCE

eighty

n.
A1 Beginner Oxford US //ˈeɪti// UK //ˈeɪti// eighty General-service

n. the number 80. It comes after seventy-nine and before eighty-one.

n. the cardinal number equivalent to the product of eight and ten.


SIMPLE

There are eighty students in the hall.

CONTEXTUAL

My grandmother is eighty years old but she still walks five miles every morning.

COMPLEX

The speed limit on this stretch of the motorway is eighty kilometres per hour, though many drivers unfortunately choose to ignore the restriction.

Synonyms
Origin

Inherited from Middle English eightety, eiȝti, eiȝtety, from Old English hundeahtatiġ, from Proto-Germanic *ahtōutēhundą (“eighty”), equivalent to eight + -ty. Cognate with Scots hechty, auchty (“eighty”), Saterland Frisian tachentich (“eighty”), West Frisian tachtich (“eighty”), Dutch tachtig (“eighty”), Low German tachentig (“eighty”), German achtzig (“eighty”), Swedish åttio (“eighty”), Norwegian åtti (“eighty”), Icelandic áttatíu (“eighty”).

Usage

Functions as a determiner when preceding a noun or as a noun when referring to the number itself.

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