Meanings
- not comparableThe ordinal form of the number twenty.
“A shift from jus soli to jus sanguinis has been witnessed in Asia in the course of the twentieth century,” wrote Olivier Vonk at the Maastricht Centre in a 2017 paper.
2021 March 15, Jessie Yeung, “These Asian countries are giving dual citizens an ultimatum on nationality – and loyalty”, in CNN, archived from the original on 15 Mar 20233 more examples
As with most twentieth-century Chinese writers, little is known of Ts’ao Yü’s life. Though his ancestral home was Ch’ien-chiang 潛江, Hupei province, he himself was probably born in Tientsin in either 1909 or 1910.
1980, Christopher C. Rand, “Introduction”, in The Wilderness (Yüan-yeh) 原野, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page viiiThe novel he lends his name to is an account of that life, taking more or less the form of a memoir set down in the years immediately after World War II by an old man mentally preparing for death, not quite at home in the twentieth century (and a little proud of it, stubbornly clinging to his eartrumpet), whose significant memories reach back to the early 1890s and beyond.
2000, Bill Manhire, Doubtful Sounds: Essays and Interviews, page 124But in fact the antinomy of exceptionalism and assimilationism has been there all along, and otherwise puzzling decisions from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries become readily understandable when seen as moments when assimilationism was ascendant.
2024 September 30, Michael Doran, “EXCEPTIONALISM AND ASSIMILATIONISM IN FEDERAL INDIAN LAW”, in Stanford Law School, volume 20, number 2, page 268, archived from the original on 24 Feb 2025
plural twentieths
- A person or thing in the twentieth position.
- One of twenty equal parts of a whole.
There are some glittering stats out there regarding Brassey: namely that he'd built around one-third of Britain's railways by the time he was in his early 40s, and that by the time of his death (aged 65) he was responsible for around one-twentieth of the world's railways.
2021 December 29, Stephen Roberts, “Stories and facts behind railway plaques: Chester (1848)”, in Rail, number 947, page 57
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Old Englishtwēntigoþa
- Middle Englishtwentithe
- Englishtwentieth
From earlier twenteth, twentith, from Middle English twentithe, twentiþe, from Old English twēntigoþa. Equivalent to twenty + -eth. Etymological notes twentith, twenteth is the expected development from Middle English twentithe, but in time, the opaque twent- was replaced by a more transparent twenty-, resulting in modern twentieth (in the speech varieties this occurred in, the weak vowel in the final syllable of twenteth, twentith was clearly distinct from that in twenty); similar processes explain the modern pronunciation of thirtieth, fourtieth, etc. This analogy was assisted by synizetic pronunciations of words such as carrying, which allowed twenteth, twentith to be interpreted as contractions of twentieth.
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans twintigste
- twintigsteordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
Ancient Greek εἰκοστός
- εἰκοστός (eikostós)ordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
Basque hogeigarren
- hogeigarrenordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
Bengali বিংশ
- বিংশ (biṅśo)ordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
Bulgarian двадесети
- двадесети (dvadeseti)ordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
Catalan vintè, vigèsim
- vintèordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
- vigèsimordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
- vintèportion of whole
Chinese Mandarin 第二十
- 第二十 (dì èrshí)ordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
Czech dvacátý
- dvacátýordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
Danish tyvende
- tyvendeordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
Dutch twintigste
- twintigsteordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
Esperanto dudeka
- dudekaordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
Estonian kahekümnes
- kahekümnesordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
Finnish kahdeskymmenes, kahdeskymmenesosa
- kahdeskymmenesordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
- kahdeskymmenesosaportion of whole
- kahdeskymmenesordinal object
French vingtième, vingt
- vingtièmeordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
- vingtordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
- vingtièmeportion of whole
- vingtièmeordinal object
German zwanzigste
- zwanzigsteordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
Greek εικοστός
- εικοστός (eikostós)ordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
Hindi बीसवाँ, बीसवाँ
- बीसवाँ (bīsvā̃)ordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
- बीसवाँ (bīsvā̃)portion of whole
- बीसवाँ (bīsvā̃)ordinal object
Hungarian huszadik, huszad
- huszadikordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
- huszadportion of whole
- huszadikordinal object
Icelandic tuttugasta
- tuttugastaordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
Indonesian keduapuluh
- keduapuluhordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
Irish fichiú
- fichiúordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
Italian ventesimo, ventesimo
- ventesimoordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
- ventesimoordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
- ventesimaordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
- ventesimoportion of whole
- ventesimoordinal object
- ventesimaordinal object
Japanese 第二十
- 第二十 (dai nijū)ordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
Korean 스무째
- 스무째 (seumujjae)ordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
Latin vīcēsimus, vīcēsimus
- vīcēsimusordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
- vīcēsimusportion of whole
Latvian divdesmitais
- divdesmitaisordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
Lithuanian dvidešimtas
- dvidešimtasordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
Malay kedua puluh
- kedua puluhordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
Norwegian tjuende
- tjuendeordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
Persian بیستم
- بیستم (bistom)ordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
Polish dwudziesty
- dwudziestyordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
Portuguese vigésimo, vigésimo
- vigésimoordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
- vigésimoportion of whole
- vigésimoordinal object
- vigésimaordinal object
Romanian douăzecilea
- douăzecileaordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
Russian двадца́тый, двадцатая
- двадца́тый (dvadcátyj)ordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
- двадцатаяportion of whole
Scottish Gaelic ficheadamh
- ficheadamhordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
Slovak dvadsiaty
- dvadsiatyordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
Spanish vigésimo, veinteno
- vigésimoordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
- veintenoordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
- veintésimoordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
- vicésimoordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
- veinteavoportion of whole
- vigésimoportion of whole
- veintésimaportion of whole
- vicésimoportion of whole
- veintenaportion of whole
- vigésimoordinal object
- veintenoordinal object
- vicésimoordinal object
- veintésimoordinal object
Swahili ishirini
- ishiriniordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
Swedish tjugonde, tjugondedel
- tjugondeordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
- tjugondedelportion of whole
- tjugondelportion of whole
Tagalog ikadalawampu
- ikadalawampuordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
Tamil இருபதாம், இருபதாவது
- இருபதாம் (irupatām)ordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
- இருபதாவது (irupatāvatu)ordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
Thai ที่ยี่สิบ
- ที่ยี่สิบ (tîi-yîi-sìp)ordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
Turkish yirminci, yirminci
- yirminciordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
- yirminciordinal object
Ukrainian двадця́тий
- двадця́тий (dvadcjátyj)ordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
Vietnamese thứ hai mươi
- thứ hai mươiordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
Yiddish צוואַנציקסט, צוואַנציקסטל
- צוואַנציקסט (tsvantsikst)ordinal form of twenty — see also 20th
- צוואַנציקסטל (tsvantsikstl)portion of whole
Cite this entry
twentieth. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/twentieth
“twentieth.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/twentieth. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “twentieth,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/twentieth.
Source: twentieth on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.