c. 1200, fift, from Old English fifta "fifth," from fif "five" (see five) + -ta (see -th (1)). Normal development would have yielded fift; altered 14c. by influence of fourth. Compare Old Frisian fifta, Old Saxon fifto, Old Norse fimmti, Dutch vijfde, Old High German fimfto, German fünfte, Gothic fimfta.
Noun meaning "fifth part of a gallon of liquor" is first recorded 1938, American English; the noun in the music sense is from 1590s. Fifth Avenue (in New York City) has been used figuratively for "elegance, taste" since at least 1858. Fifth wheel "superfluous person or thing" attested from 1630s. It also was the name of a useful device, "wheel-plate or circle iron of a carriage" placed on the forward axle for support and to facilitate turning (1825). And the phrase sometimes is turned on its head and given a positive sense of "that which a prudent driver ought to take with him in case one of the others should break" (1817). Fifth-monarchy-man, 17c. for "anarchist zealot," is a reference to Dan. ii:44.
雙語例句
1. He was the fifth person to be killed in sectarian violence.
他是宗派暴力中的第5個罹難者。
來自柯林斯例句
2. It seems that the fifth man is one John Cairncross.
第五位好像是一個名叫約翰·凱恩克羅斯的人。
來自柯林斯例句
3. The new territory would extend over one-fifth of Canada's land mass.
這塊新領土將會使加拿大陸地面積擴展1/5以上。
來自柯林斯例句
4. Elections will now take place on November the twenty-fifth.
選舉現定于11月25號舉行。
來自柯林斯例句
5. Bergdorf Goodman has opened a men's store on Fifth Avenue.
