thirteen

American  

[thur-teen] / ˈθɜrˈtin /

noun

thirteens plural

1. a cardinal number, 10 plus 3.

2. a symbol for this number, as 13 or XIII.

3. a set of this many persons or things.

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adjective

1. amounting to 13 in number.

thirteen British  

/ ˈθɜːˈtiːn /

noun

1. the cardinal number that is the sum of ten and three and is a prime number See also number

2. a numeral, 13, XIII, etc, representing this number

3. the amount or quantity that is three more than ten; baker's dozen

4. something represented by, representing, or consisting of 13 units

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determiner

1. 1. amounting to thirteen

      thirteen buses

   2. ( as pronoun )

      thirteen of them fell

Usage

Spelling tips for 13 The word thirteen (13) is hard to spell because it doesn’t simply combine the spelling of the base number (three) with the suffix -teen, as is done in other easy-to-remember spellings like fourteen and sixteen.  How to spell thirteen: When three is combined with suffixes, it transforms from three (a cardinal number) to third (an ordinal number). Then, the d is dropped: thirteen (not thirdteen); thirty (not thirdty). Remember: there's no d in thirteen.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• thirteens
  plural

Etymology

Origin of thirteen

before 900; late Middle English thirttene, variant of Middle English thrittene, Old English thrēotēne; cognate with Dutch dertien, German dreizehn, Old Norse threttān. See three, -teen

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

thirteen thirteens

The stock has been higher ten of the last thirteen weeks but still trades 9% below its annual peak.

From Barron's ● May 26, 2026

Rain has featured a lot so far this November with some areas seeing over their November average in the first thirteen days.

From BBC ● Nov. 13, 2025

Nevada also joined the group this week, bringing the total number of members to thirteen.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2025

Together with colleagues at the Department of Thematic Studies -- Environmental Change, Alexander Olsson has interviewed thirteen politicians and officials in Stockholm to hear their reasoning about the opportunities and risks.

From Science Daily ● May 29, 2024

When George Washington purchased Billy, Frank, and the other two boys in 1767, Virginia was one of thirteen British colonies in America.

From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis

Six seeds are 86-50 against the elevens, fives are 89-47 against twelves, and once you get to fours vs. thirteens, you're in never gonna happen territory.

From Golf Digest ● Mar. 18, 2019

I do not know, he adds, what the occult almanac makers predict, but out of curiosity I have looked back at some other thirteens.

From The Guardian ● Jan. 1, 2013

Whenever I have been wrecked, we had sailed as cheerily as you please—no thirteens, no Fridays, no dead men in the hold.

From Man Overboard! by Crawford, F. Marion (Francis Marion)

There was no trade discount, no reckoning twelves as thirteens, no commission, and no credit of any kind whatever.

From My First Book: the experiences of Walter Besant, James Payn, W. Clark Russell, Grant Allen, Hall Caine, George R. Sims, Rudyard Kipling, A. Conan Doyle, M.E. Braddon, F.W. Robinson, H. Rider Haggard, R.M. Ballantyne, I. Zangwill, Morley Roberts, David Christie Murray, Marie Corelli, Jerome K. Jerome, John Strange Winter, Bret Harte, "Q.", Robert Buchanan, Robert Louis Stevenson, with an introduction by Jerome K. Jerome. by Various

I fear it is not strong enough to give Murray much chance of realising his thirteens again.

From Life of Lord Byron, Vol. 5 With His Letters and Journals by Moore, Thomas