seventh (English)

Where does "seventh" come from?

The English word 'seventh' descends from Middle English 'seventhe'[1][3], which comes from Old English 'seofoþa'[1][2][3]. Going further back, the term traces through Proto-West Germanic '*sebundō'[1][4] and Proto-Germanic '*sebundô'[1][2][4]. The nasal sound in the word was originally lost in northern dialects of Proto-West Germanic, but was later reinserted by analogy with the word 'seven'[1].

Open questions

The reinsertion of the sound n by analogy with seven is a linguistic development noted in the derivation. [1]

Full etymology tree

seventh (English), 'The ordinal form of the number seven.'
- inherited seventhe (Middle English), 'seventh'
  - inherited seofoþa (Old English), 'seventh'
    - inherited *sebundō (Proto-West Germanic), 'seventh'
      - inherited *sebundô (Proto-Germanic), 'seventh'
    - inherited *sebunþō (Proto-West Germanic)
- inherited sefte (Middle English), 'alternative form of seventhe'
  - inherited seofoþa (Old English), 'seventh'
    - inherited *sebundō (Proto-West Germanic), 'seventh'
      - inherited *sebundô (Proto-Germanic), 'seventh'
    - inherited *sebunþō (Proto-West Germanic)

Ancestors

seventhe (Middle English)
seofoþa (Old English)
*sebundō (Proto-West Germanic)
*sebundô (Proto-Germanic)

Descendants and derived words

half-diminished seventh chord (English)
major seventh chord (English)
minor seventh chord (English)
seventh art (English)
seventh chord (English)
seventh cranial nerve (English)
seventh grade (English)
seventh grader (English)
seventh heaven (English)
seventh inning stretch (English)
the seventh water after kissel (English)

Related words

seven (English)

Sources

Updated October 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris