ENGLISH
REFERENCE

sixty

n.
A1 Beginner Oxford US //ˈsɪksti// UK //sˈɪksti// six·ty General-service

n. the number 60. It comes after fifty-nine and before sixty-one.

n. the cardinal number equivalent to the product of six and ten. Functions as both a noun and a determiner depending on the syntactic context.


SIMPLE

There are sixty seconds in one minute.

CONTEXTUAL

My grandmother is celebrating her sixty-fifth birthday with a large party for the whole family.

COMPLEX

The speed limit on this stretch of the highway is sixty miles per hour, though many drivers frequently exceed it during the late hours of the night.

Synonyms
Origin

Inherited from Middle English sixty, sexty, Old English sixtiġ, from Proto-Germanic *sehs tigiwiz (“sixty”), equivalent to six + -ty. Cognate with Scots sexty, saxty (“sixty”), Saterland Frisian säkstich (“sixty”), West Frisian sechstich (“sixty”), Dutch zestig (“sixty”), German Low German sesstig (“sixty”), German sechzig (“sixty”), Swedish sextio (“sixty”), Norwegian seksti (“sixty”), Icelandic sextíu (“sixty”). Compare also Sanskrit षष्टि (ṣaṣṭi).

Usage

When used as a noun, it follows standard pluralization rules (the sixties) to refer to a decade or a range of ages.

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