Fifty
/ˈfɪf.ti/noun
The number equivalent to five times ten.
Did you know?English fifty comes from an old Germanic form that literally meant “five decades,” showing how early number words were engineered from base-10 counting long before modern math.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*penkʷe
“five”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*fimf-tiō
“an abstract formation meaning “fifty,” built from the idea of five tens”
Old English
OE
fiftig
“fifty”
Middle English
ME
fifti
“fifty”
Modern English
English
fifty
“the number 50”