eighty

American  

[ey-tee] / ˈeɪ ti /

noun

eighties plural

1. a cardinal number, ten times eight.

2. a symbol for this number, as 80 or LXXX.

3. a set of this many persons or things.

4. eighties, the numbers, years, degrees, or the like, from 80 through 89, as in referring to numbered streets, indicating the years of a lifetime or of a century, or degrees of temperature.

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adjective

1. amounting to 80 in number.

eighty British  

/ ˈeɪtɪ /

noun

1. the cardinal number that is the product of ten and eight See also number

2. a numeral, 80, LXXX, etc, representing this number

3. (plural) the numbers 80–89, esp a person's age or the year of a particular century

4. the amount or quantity that is eight times as big as ten

5. something represented by, representing, or consisting of 80 units

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determiner

1. 1. amounting to eighty

      eighty pages of nonsense

   2. ( as pronoun )

      eighty are expected

Usage

Spelling tips for 80 The word eighty (80) is hard to spell for two reasons. First, it is not spelled the way it sounds [ ey-tee ]. Second, it is tempting to use a double t because the base word (eight) ends in a t and the suffix -ty begins with one.  How to spell eighty: To spell eighty, you start by correctly spelling the first syllable [ ey ]. The easiest way to remember how to spell eigh- is with the classic mnemonic device: “I before E, except after C, except when it’s pronounced like a long A, as in neighbor and weigh.” The collection of letters eigh often makes a long A sound [ ey ].

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• eighties
  plural

Etymology

Origin of eighty

before 850; Middle English eighteti, Old English eahtatig. See eight, -ty ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

eighty eighties

“A dollar, maybe eighty cents. Just the Italian beef jus poured over bread.”

From Salon ● Dec. 7, 2025

A survey published last year estimated that Australians worked on average two hundred and eighty one hours of unpaid overtime annually.

From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2024

“The ‘crypto’ nomenclature may be of recent vintage,” she wrote, “but the challenged transactions fall comfortably within the framework that courts have used to identify securities for nearly eighty years.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 10, 2024

Spearthrowers can propel darts over a distance of up to eighty metres.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 6, 2023

Papin was well aware of this: he proposed to the Royal Society a ship of eighty tons, perhaps 100 feet long, costing ‘but four hundred pounds’ to build.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

I was encouraged in this wish to go on by my grad-school advisor, Harold Bloom, who kept churning until the end, writing books well into his eighties.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026

It looks, and feels, very eighties, but if quantum's potential is realised, the metal and wire jellyfish structure in front of me will transform the world, in many ways.

From BBC ● Jan. 7, 2026

Now in his eighties, he often spends hours beside an unfinished santoor, listening to the silence of what's yet to be completed.

From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2025

When asked why he would want to stay in Washington well into his eighties, Trump said, "I like working."

From Salon ● Apr. 1, 2025

Garret Charles actually gave us a generic monologue about the dust of California in the eighties.

From "Better Nate Than Ever" by Tim Federle