Fifties

How to spell fifties

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce fifties

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does fifties mean?

1. nounThe years of a decade numbered from 50 to 59, or the ages, temperatures, or numbers in that range.

Fifties in a sentence

• The band first became popular in the fifties before television was common.

• Both of her parents are now in their fifties and planning early retirement.

Where does fifties come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word traces back to the Old English fiftig, which combined fif, meaning 'five', with the suffix -tig that marked a group of ten, so the whole literally meant 'five tens'. That same -tig element survives across the modern English decade words from twenty through ninety, and it is cousin to similar forms in Dutch and German. The plural 'fifties' simply adds the regular English plural ending, and because the singular ends in a consonant followed by y, the spelling shifts the y to i before -es, giving 'fifties' rather than 'fiftys'. Over time the plural took on its familiar everyday senses: a person's ages between fifty and fifty-nine, a decade such as the 1950s, and temperatures or quantities in that range. The y-to-i rule is the only real spelling point to remember, since the rest of the word is phonetically straightforward.

How the word is built

• fif- (from five)
• -ty (denoting a multiple of ten)
• -es (plural, with y changing to i)