Etymograph

English

sixteenth

Sixteenth comes from Middle English sixtenthe, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *sehstô tehundô.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*sehstô tehundô1reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150sixtēoþa2
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sixtenthe2
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1976sixteenth2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Old English sixteoþa
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English sixteenth
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1976, Apollo: A Journal of the Arts:: “[…] a pair of pauldrons with the light horizontal…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*sehstô tehundôWiktionary, Old English sixteoþareconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150sixtēoþaWiktionary, English sixteenth
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sixtentheWiktionary, English sixteenth
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1976sixteenthWiktionary, English sixteenth. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1976, Apollo: A Journal of the Arts:: “[…] a pair of pauldrons with the light horizontal…”

Formed from sixteen + -th

Proto-Germanic *sehstehun

Old English sixtīene

Middle English sextene

English sixteen

Every English word from Proto-Germanic *sehstô tehundô

Today it means

adj The ordinal form of the number sixteen.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “sixteenth”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Old English sixteoþa. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *sehstô tehundô / sixteenth

Shirt and support for this word