sixth

Etymology

From Middle English [Term?], from Old English siexta, from Proto-Germanic *sehstô.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɪk(s)θ/, [sɪk(s)θ], [sɪk(s)t̪] (before a consonant often reduced to [sɪks])

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪksθ
• Homophone: six (frequent reduced form before a consonant)

Adjective

sixth (not comparable)

1. The ordinal form of the number six.

Noun

sixth (plural sixths)

1. (not used in the plural) The person or thing in the sixth position.
2. One of six equal parts of a whole.
3. (music) The interval between one note and another, five notes higher in the scale, for example C to A, a major sixth, or C to A flat, a minor sixth. (Note that the interval covers six notes counting inclusively, for example C-D-E-F-G-A.)

Verb

sixth (third-person singular simple present sixths, present participle sixthing, simple past and past participle sixthed)

1. to divide by six, which also means multiplying a denominator by six
   • 1993 Dead Reckoning: Calculating Without Instruments page 102

     Why would anyone use sixthing when any (N — a2) divisible by 6 would also be divisible by 3? The answer is that sometimes the numerator and/or the denominator is simpler in sixthing,

Related terms

• French sixth
• Italian sixth
• major sixth
• minor sixth
• sixth sense

References