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• fifteen
  fifteen

  noun

  a cardinal number, ten plus five.
• Fifteen
  Fifteen

  noun

  history the Jacobite rising of 1715

fifteen

American  

[fif-teen] / ˈfɪfˈtin /

noun

fifteens plural

1. a cardinal number, ten plus five.

2. a symbol for this number, as 15 or XV.

3. a set of this many persons or things.

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adjective

1. amounting to 15 in number.

fifteen ¹ British  

/ ˈfɪfˈtiːn /

noun

1. the cardinal number that is the sum of ten and five

2. a numeral, 15, XV, etc, representing this number

3. something represented by, representing, or consisting of 15 units

4. a rugby union football team

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determiner

1. 1. amounting to fifteen

      fifteen jokes

   2. ( as pronoun )

      fifteen of us danced

Fifteen ² British  

/ ˈfɪfˈtiːn /

noun

1. history the Jacobite rising of 1715

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Usage

Spelling tips for fifteen The word fifteen is hard to spell because it doesn’t simply combine the spelling of the base number, five, with the suffix -teen, as is done in other easy-to-remember spellings like fourteen and sixteen.  How to spell fifteen: When five is combined with suffixes, the ve is turned into an f: fifteen (not fiveteen), fifty (not fivety), and fifth (not fiveth). Remember: there’s no v in fifteen.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• fifteens
  plural

Etymology

Origin of fifteen

before 900; Middle English, Old English fiftene. See five, -teen

Example Sentences

Fifteen of them were inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 9, 2026

Fifteen of them were people of color: 14 Black people and one Hispanic person.

From Slate • Jun. 8, 2026

Fifteen of the 20 Premier League clubs appear, and it's been a similar story for several years.

From BBC • May 28, 2026

Fifteen years earlier, civil war had broken out when 11 states seceded and formed the Confederate States of America.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026

Fifteen years of taking the bus to the same place with leatherette booths and a coffee-stained linoleum counter and wood-paneled walls.

From "The Book of Unknown Americans" by Cristina Henríquez