thirteen

[thur-teen]

noun

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.

adjective

1. amounting to 13 in number.

thirteen

/ 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

determiner

1. 1. amounting to thirteen

      thirteen buses

   2. ( as pronoun )

      thirteen of them fell

Word History and Origins

Origin of thirteen¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of thirteen¹

Old English threotēne; see _three , _-teen

Example Sentences

It looks like her sunsum has grown thirteen times its size and is now a large orb of golden light within her.

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With thirteen children, the Goble family was the largest of all.

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Comprehensive study has revealed that the Mary Rose’s crew was all male and that more than 80 percent of the crew was under thirty years of age, some between eleven and thirteen years old.

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

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He says I may be twelve or thirteen years old by the time we are finished.

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When To Use

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.