öt (Hungarian)

Where does "öt" come from?

The Hungarian word "öt," meaning five, descends from the Proto-Uralic root *witte. This ancient ancestor is shared across the Uralic language family, appearing in modern forms such as the Finnish "viisi" and the Northern Mansi "ат." Over time, the Hungarian version underwent a regular sound shift where the original "w" sound caused the vowel to labialize, eventually evolving into the modern "öt."

Full etymology tree

• öt (Hungarian), 'five'
  • inherited *witte (Proto-Uralic), 'five'

Ancestors

• *witte (Proto-Uralic)

Cognates and doublets

• viis (Estonian)
• viisi (Finnish)
• бииˮ (Nganasan)
• вет (Northern Khanty)
• ат (Northern Mansi)

Descendants and derived words

• harmincöt (Hungarian)
• hatvanöt (Hungarian)
• hetvenöt (Hungarian)
• huszonöt (Hungarian)
• kilencvenöt (Hungarian)
• negyvenöt (Hungarian)
• nyolcvanöt (Hungarian)
• ötéves (Hungarian)
• ötezer (Hungarian)
• ötnaponként (Hungarian)
• ötödik (Hungarian)
• ötös (Hungarian)

Updated July 2026

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