Sevens

How to spell sevens

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce sevens

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does sevens mean?

1. nounMore than one instance of the number seven, or things grouped or rated as seven.
2. nounAn abbreviated form of rugby union played with seven players on each side.

Sevens in a sentence

• The bingo caller drew three sevens in a single round.

• She earned a national call-up to play sevens at the summer tournament.

• The hotel rated all of its rooms as sevens out of ten.

• The fast pace of sevens makes it a popular spectator sport.

Where does sevens come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is simply the plural of seven, which descends from the Old English seofon, a native Germanic word for the number after six. It shares a common ancestor with the Dutch zeven and the German sieben, and ultimately traces back to a reconstructed Proto-Indo-European root that also gave Latin septem (the source of September, once the seventh month) and Greek hepta. The spelling has stayed remarkably steady across the centuries, with the v fixed firmly between the two e's. Adding the plural -s creates sevens, a form used both for several of the number itself and, in modern sport, for the abbreviated seven-a-side game of rugby. The only mild trap is remembering the single v and the unstressed second syllable.

How the word is built

• seven (the number, from Old English seofon)
• -s (plural)