Sixtyish

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Appearing or being roughly sixty years of age, somewhere in the range of the early-to-late sixties
2. Describing a person who is approximately sixty years old, neither quite there nor much beyond that age
3. Of an age that falls near sixty, used for someone who looks or seems to be around that many years old

Etymology: "Sixtyish" is a plain formation: the number "sixty" with the suffix "-ish," which English attaches to nouns and numbers to mean "approximately" or "somewhat like." Adding "-ish" to a number gives the sense of being roughly that age or amount, so "sixtyish" describes someone who looks or seems to be about sixty, or a figure near sixty. The suffix itself is old. The Old English "-isc" meant "belonging to" or "of the nature of," as in "Englisc," and it passed into Middle English as "-ish" with a range of meanings, including "somewhat like." Its use with numerals to express approximation is a later extension, and it works freely with numbers today, so forms like "fortyish" and "thirtyish" follow the same pattern.

Synonyms: about sixty, around sixty