Etymology

eighty-eleven

Today it means: Very many; too many to count; quite a lot. Full definition →

French quatre-vingt-onze
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The story

  1. French · derived fromquatre-vingt-onze
  2. English todayeighty-eleven

Originally as a calque of French quatre-vingt-onze. In American dialects, from humorous use of eleven to continue counting the eighties.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.