Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
4️⃣ Number 40th 4️⃣ The 40th one
fortieth

fortieth

3 1.0
A person or thing in position forty in a list
  • noun
  • /ˈfɔrtiəθ/
translation icon : cuadragésimo
  • We celebrated my parents' fortieth wedding anniversary with a big party.
  • the fortieth anniversary

Examples

  • Today is my parents' fortieth wedding anniversary.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • The first thing Riley wanted for his fortieth birthday was a baby.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • We made the brownies for my friend's fortieth--

    Full Frontal (2002)

  • In 1890, she was a spinster who had just seen her fortieth birthday.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • Laila serves him the stuffed squash with the sterling silver spoon her children gave her for her fortieth birthday.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • Sparkly silver barrettes, my gift for her fortieth birthday, held back her eternally frizzed brown hair.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • He turned fortieth last week and decided to throw a big celebration.

  • The team is excited to participate in their fortieth match this season.

Synonyms

40th
vsfortieth
43 1.0

Number forty in a list or order

is the word form spelling out the same ordinal position in a sequence

Surface Forms

fortieth singular
fortieths plural

Morphology

fortieth = forty (transparent) = forty + ieth

The ordinal is a direct, regular formation from the cardinal 'forty' (y→i + -eth), so the meaning is predictable from 'forty'.

Etymology

The word fortieth comes from the number forty plus the ordinal ending -th, which shows order or place. Think of people in a line: the fortieth is 'the item in position forty', the person standing after thirty-nine others.