thirteenth

[thur-teenth]

adjective

1. next after the twelfth; being the ordinal number for 13.

2. being one of 13 equal parts.

noun

1. a thirteenth part, especially of one (1/13).

2. the thirteenth member of a series.

Word History and Origins

Origin of thirteenth¹

before 900; thirteen + -th ²; replacing Middle English thrittenthe ( three, tenth ), Old English thryttēotha ( tithe )

Example Sentences

Penelope imagined she heard, not far off, the quiet breathing of a thirteenth, unseen and uninvited, guest.

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A small merchant ship, in the early thirteenth century BCE was making its way between two of the five tiny islands off Cape Gelidonya on the southwest coast of Turkey.

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The figures also showed that food inflation fell for the thirteenth month in a row to 3.2%.

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Not for the first—or even the thirteenth—time, the ablutionist waited impatiently for his victim to fall over dead.

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“I think we’ve all established that no one’s asleep. Why don’t we introduce ourselves? I’m Jack, and this is my grandson here, also named Jack. He’s Jack the thirteenth...the lucky one, I call him.”

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