Eleventh

Part of speech: adjective, noun

Pronunciation: /ɪˈlɛv.ənθ/

Definitions

1. The ordinal number that comes after tenth and before twelfth in a sequence
2. The position in a sequence that follows the tenth rank and precedes the twelfth rank
3. An ordinal descriptor indicating the sequence number that is immediately after the tenth and just before the twelfth

Etymology: The ordinal "eleventh" is a word that English reshaped on purpose, though the old form was lost along the way. Its ancestor in Old English was "endlefta," which came from a Proto-Germanic root meaning roughly "one left over" after counting to ten. That makes the older English form a kind of counting story: you have used your ten fingers, and one more remains. Over the Middle English period, that inherited form wore down into "ellefte" and "enlefte." Speakers then rebuilt the word using the cardinal number "eleven" with the ordinal ending "-the," the same pattern that produced "tenth" and "twelfth." This new formation pushed the older form out of use, so the modern word is effectively a re-formation rather than a direct descendant of the Old English one.

Synonyms: 11th, tenth, twelfth