Word
twelfth
US/ˈtwɛɫfθ/
UK/twˈɛlfθ/
Definitions
01position number 12
num. coming after the eleventh and before the thirteenth in a series.
num. the ordinal form of the number twelve, indicating a position in a sequence.
“Her birthday is on the twelfth of December.”
“The athlete finished in twelfth place, narrowly missing out on a top-ten ranking despite a strong final sprint.”
Usage
Often functions as an adjective before a noun or as a pronoun.
Pitfall
It was his twelveth attempt.
It was his twelfth attempt.
The spelling changes from 'twelve' to 'twelfth' by dropping the 've' and adding 'fth'.
Synonyms
02one of twelve parts
n. one of twelve equal parts that make up a whole.
n. one of twelve equal parts of a whole; a fraction represented as 1/12.
“He cut the cake into small pieces, and I ate one twelfth of it.”
“The budget allocated only one twelfth of the total funds to infrastructure, which many critics argued was insufficient for the project.”
Usage
Commonly preceded by 'a' or 'one'.
03musical interval
n. a musical distance that covers an octave plus five more notes.
n. a musical interval spanning an octave and a perfect fifth.
“The organ pipe produced a clear twelfth above the main note.”
“The composer utilized the natural twelfth of the horn to create a haunting, resonant texture in the second movement.”
Technical
Usage
Refers to both the interval and the specific note at that distance.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English twelfthe, twelfte, from Old English twelfta (“twelfth”), from Proto-Germanic *twaliftô (“twelfth”), equivalent to twelve + -th (ordinal suffix). Cognate with Scots twalt (“twelfth”), Saterland Frisian tweelfte (“twelfth”), West Frisian tolfde (“twelfth”), Dutch twaalfde (“twelfth”), German Low German twalfde, twalvde (“twelfth”), German zwölfte (“twelfth”), Danish tolvte (“twelfth”), Swedish tolfte (“twelfth”), Icelandic tólfta (“twelfth”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Domain
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