Ninefold

Part of speech: adjective, adverb

Definitions

1. Consisting of nine separate components or factors
2. Indicating a measurement or amount that is nine times the original value
3. Made up of nine distinct elements or components ; increased to nine times its previous size or quantity

Etymology: "Ninefold" is a plain compound: "nine" joined to "-fold," the suffix that turns a number into a multiplier, as in "twofold" or "tenfold." The suffix itself descends from the Old English "-feald," which carried the sense of folding or bending, so a fourfold thing is literally folded four times over. The result is a word whose core idea is layering rather than counting, since each fold doubles or stacks the material on itself. The word entered English in Middle English as "nynefold" or "niȝenfald," traced back to the Old English "niġonfeald." Its two senses grew out of the same arithmetic. One sense is multiplicative, meaning nine times as much, and the other is compositional, meaning made up of nine parts. Both follow from the fold: a cloth folded nine times has nine layers, and a quantity multiplied by nine becomes nine times greater.

Synonyms: nine times, ninefolded