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.
双语例句
1. He was the fifth person to be killed in sectarian violence.
他是宗派暴力中的第5个罹难者。
来自柯林斯例句
2. It seems that the fifth man is one John Cairncross.
第五位好像是一个名叫约翰·凯恩克罗斯的人。
来自柯林斯例句
3. The new territory would extend over one-fifth of Canada's land mass.
这块新领土将会使加拿大陆地面积扩展1/5以上。
来自柯林斯例句
4. Elections will now take place on November the twenty-fifth.
选举现定于11月25号举行。
来自柯林斯例句
5. Bergdorf Goodman has opened a men's store on Fifth Avenue.
