eight

American  

[ayt] / eɪt /

noun

• eights
  plural

1. a cardinal number, seven plus one.

2. a symbol for this number, as 8 or VIII.

3. a set of this many persons or things, as the crew of an eight-oared racing shell.

4. a playing card the face of which bears eight pips.

5. Informal.

   1. an automobile powered by an eight-cylinder engine.

   2. an eight-cylinder engine.

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adjective

1. amounting to eight in number.

eight British  

/ eɪt /

noun

1. the cardinal number that is the sum of one and seven and the product of two and four See also number

2. a numeral, 8, VIII, etc, representing this number

3. music the numeral 8 used as the lower figure in a time signature to indicate that the beat is measured in quavers

4. the amount or quantity that is one greater than seven

5. something representing, represented by, or consisting of eight units, such as a playing card with eight symbols on it

6. rowing

   1. a racing shell propelled by eight oarsmen

   2. the crew of such a shell

7. Also called: eight o'clock. eight hours after noon or midnight

8. slang to be drunk

9. See figure of eight

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determiner

1. 1. amounting to eight

   2. ( as pronoun )

      I could only find eight

eight Idioms  

1. see behind the eight ball.

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Usage

Spelling tips for 8 The word eight (8) is hard to spell because it is not spelled the way it sounds [ eyt ]. There are a number of silent letters. How to spell eight: The easiest way to remember how to spell eight 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. To this, you simply add the t at the end: eight.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• eights
  plural

Etymology

Origin of eight

before 1000; Middle English eighte, Old English ( e ) ahta; cognate with Dutch acht, Old Saxon, Old High German ahto ( German acht ), Old Norse ātta, Gothic ahtau, Latin octō, Greek oktṓ, Old Irish ocht, Welsh wyth, Breton eiz, Tocharian B okt, Lithuanian aštuonì, Albanian tetë, Armenian uth, Persian hasht, Sanskrit aṣṭáu; apparently an old dual in form, but not clear of what

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

eight eights

After out-of-court negotiations, a care and compensation package was agreed, described by Pugh's lawyers as worth "eight figures".

From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026

Inspectors red-tagged eight buildings, covering 13 addresses, and yellow-tagged one.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2026

Scharp identified eight characteristics of estrangement, or areas in which adult children who are pulling away from their parents change their behaviors or feelings:

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026

The defendant appeared via video link from Belmarsh prison on Friday for a pre-trial hearing at the Old Bailey during which Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb set a provisional eight to 12-week trial from October 4 2027.

From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026

Tomás was married and had eight kids, but Chase had never met his wife, or the rest of his family.

From "Storm Runners" by Roland Smith

We gather in sixes and eights for dinner at places chosen more for their decibels than their desserts.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026

Looping mischievously around one another, befezzed Shriners do figure eights on their tiny motorcycles.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026

Goddesses on roller skates glide in buttery figure eights across the glass-fiber-reinforced concrete.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 14, 2026

"Doris is definitely captaincy-worthy but the number one criteria for your captain has got to be that he is a banker to start, and I think there are some really good number eights," Warburton added.

From BBC ● Feb. 25, 2025

He weaves across the road in figure eights, then around me in circles, then rides beside me again.

From "All The Bright Places" by Jennifer Niven